Can I be your Love?
by LadyDevilBlessed
Summary: Draco and Hermione have a talk about Hermione's love life. Now Draco wonders if he could be her love? What will happen? T for safe
1. Chapter 1

Can I be your Love?

Summary: Draco and Hermione have a conversation about Hermione's love life. Draco wonders if he could ever be the one that Hermione could love. Why does he want to be her love? Will he succeed? What will he have to do to get there?

AN: Started out as rambling on my first day at university. Might seem boring at the beginning. I don't know how far I'll be able to take the story. Depends on school work. Hope you enjoy it!

Disclaimer: If I owned anything, do you think I'll be writing on Not mine.

happy reading, LDB

"You never give up, do you?" Hermione Granger, Head Girl, Gryffindor Princess, and the smartest corner of the Golden Triangle, said to her room companion. Hermione was currently sitting on one of the couches in the common room looking at Draco Malfoy who was in the middle of calling her every evil name in the book.

"Nope. Where was I? Oh yes, lowlife, peddler," Draco was lounging with his feet dangling over the edge of the arm of the black chair as he ticked off on his fingers each insult.

"You know? I'm not a peddler." The teenaged girl cut off the boy again. "Just because my parents actually _work_ doesn't mean that we're poor."

"Filty, disgusting… I'm not sorry, are you saying something?" Draco blinked his cold blue-grey eyes at the girl who was happily sitting on the couch beside his chair, content to not do anything other than sit.

"Oh, I was just saying that I'm probably not as poor as you wish I were. I just don't strut around boasting and belittling others to show off. I prefer to act equally to others around me." Hermione twisted some hair around her index finger and sighed. It was the middle of Easter break. Not much to do. Yes, yes, everyone thought that she would be studying up a storm by now, but she was really only interested in having a good last year at Hogwarts. Harry Potter was who knows where and Hermione figured that there were more things important than wasting time studying for a test that would mean little to her future when she could relax a little and still get just as good grades as if she studied her butt off.

"Are you comparing yourself to ME?" Draco laughed in disbelief at her statement.

"You'd be surprised. Money-wise. But your social status holds more power apparently, in comparison to mine." The brunette lapsed into silence. She had no idea why they were having that conversation, but no matter why, she didn't really enjoy the insults. "I thought that you were one of the only people remotely my age that I could have an intellectual conversation with, but yet again you amaze me."

"That's me. I'm just full of amazing things."

"Your ego is one of them. And I guess if it is your hot air, then it must be pretty amazing too." Hermione said almost lazily as she closed her eyes in order to bask in the warmth of the fire.

"You really know how to cut deep don't you?" Draco said thoughtfully as he turned to gaze at the relaxed girl near him. "Your words. Even though you might not use big vocabulary all the time, it's there."

"I have no idea what you mean by that, Malfoy." She replied after waiting a few beats. Cracking open an eye, she peered at her watch. "It's only 8:30? Time doesn't move very quickly when you do nothing, I guess."

"No. It doesn't. It will go by more quickly if you do something fun." He swung his feet around and placed them on the ground looking at her for some sort of response.

"Fun? I'm surprised you even know what that word is. Oh wait. You do. You think that torturing others and making them feel bad is fun. I'm sorry for my rudeness of your intelligence." Hermione's eye slipped back to swamp her sight in darkness again with disregard to any reaction Draco might give.

"That's not fun for me. That's entertainment. There's a difference, Granger." He said lightly as if they were just having a friendly chat over tea.

"Oh. My bad." Hermione murmured from where she sat.

"Would you like to hear what I call fun?"

"Not really… But if you must…" The Gryffindor girl sighed, silently hoping that he wouldn't say anything disgusting.

"I like watching you. Everything you do is mesmerizing. It's almost infuriating. And I almost want to make you stop. But I can't do that because I'd die if you weren't there doing those things." Draco stood up from where he was sitting and went to hover next to where Hermione was.

"Oh really?" Hermione opened her eyes and looked in brief surprise at where Draco was standing. She hadn't heard him move at all. "I'm flattered. Harry and Ron have never said something so touching. But I have to ask… is this all a joke?"

Draco blinked and stayed silent for a few heartbeats, which had picked up the pace, just because of how beautiful Hermione looked at that moment. The split between flattery and guarding herself was simply amazing.

"No."

Hermione nodded at his short answer. Sure it was a short response, but he was sincere she could tell. Patting the space beside her, she invited Draco to take a seat.

"I have a question."

Hovering above the seat cushion, Draco paused and looked at her. Depending on the question and the answer he gave would determine whether or not he really wanted to sit there. Not really wanting to look like an idiot, he perched himself on the edge of the seat so as to make it easy for a quick get away.

"Sure."

"Why do you insult me?"

He had to stop and think about that one. He didn't really know. _Why?_ That was the hard question. He didn't know _why_. He just did. Sure it was the way he grew up. But he was at school more often than he was at home now-a-days. There was always the fear of his father, sure. And as true as it was, he never really wanted to hide behind fear. Maybe he insults her because---

"Because you threaten me."

Hermione blinked in surprise. Again. She didn't do it very often. Not a lot surprised Hermione Granger. But, like she admitted, Draco's ability to amaze her was only matched by how much he surprised her. It was almost the same in her book. Amazement and surprise.

"…How…?"

"How do you threaten me when you do nothing to me?" Draco asked for her as he shifted to a slightly more comfortable position. At her nod, he formulated his answer. "You go against everything I was brought up to believe. Not only that, but you don't fear me like everyone else does. You're more popular than I am, in all the houses, not just your own. And on top of it all, you're untouchable."

"What do you mean by that? Wait. Hooold it. First off, how do I go against everything you were brought up to believe?" Hermione sat up and leaned towards him in question.

"Well. I was always brought up that women were inferior to men. That women were not smart. Were only meant to look pretty and do nothing. Women were supposed to keep their tongues to themselves unless their husbands wanted it for some reason." At this, Draco gave a small wink to help the slightly confused girl. "Women were supposed to be weak. And that is just because of your gender. Do you want to hear what Muggleborns are supposed to be?"

Hermione looked slightly paler than usual and had a slightly pained look on her face.

"Well, how about I give you the simple version? They're trash. They know nothing and should be treated like nothing. But you… you change everything. You're important. People like you for who you are. Not what you are." He frowned at the fire like it was at fault.

"Oh. I'm sorry that I do all of that by just existing. But I must tell you I have no plan on stopping just to make you feel better." Hermione informed him.

"Good. I wouldn't like it if you just disappeared from our life like that." Draco gave her a small grin. "I believe you had another question as well?"

"Oh, yes. What do you mean by I'm untouchable?" Noticing that she was leaning towards him funny, Hermione moved back into her previous reclining position on the couch.

"Well. It's just… well," Draco took a breath and let it out as if to calm himself. "No guy can get you. I mean. There was Krum. But really. He's a hard catch himself. But…"

"You mean no guy can get near me in a relationship?" Hermione asked him, trying to help him out in the wording.

"Well…. Yeah… Most of the blokes in this school would love to have you on their arm for just a day even. But you always manage to stay out of their league. No one has enough courage just to ask you out." Draco shrugged as if to forgo any conversation that was sure to come up after he said that.

"Most of the blokes?" Hermione repeated in question, raising an eyebrow at Draco in disbelief.

"Yes. Even in Slytherin. Though I'm sure those guys have less than noble reasons as to wanting to be with you. I guess it's hard for the guys, all of them, to try and get close to you, because you're gorgeous without trying. So they think that if they have to try to be noticed, then you won't like them. Instead, they do nothing, in hope that you'll notice them for who they are." Draco kicked off his shoes and stretched out over the couch, letting his legs sit on Hermione's lap in the process.

"Well I do notice everyone. For who they are. But…" she trailed off as she straightened the hem of Draco's pants.

"But you notice that they're all just hormonal teens who aren't up to your standards?" Draco smirked as Hermione continued to play with the bottom of his pants.

"Are my standards really that bad that I can't find even _one_ guy that I would look twice at?" Hermione wailed softly.

"Well, what are your standards? Maybe we can see if we can't change it a little?"

"Good personality, funny, smart, polite, caring, remembers important things…" Hermione trailed off.

"Has to be able to pronounce your name properly?" Draco made a jab at the way the famous Victor Krum said Hermione's name. He let out a small laugh as Hermione gave a snort of disgust.

"Yes. That too. But I guess that just narrows it down to people who know the English language." She released her fingers from Draco's pants and sighed. "So? What's wrong with my standards?"

"Nothing. I almost wish that all girls held standards like that. Then I don't have to fight them off with a bloody stick." Draco sighed. "It's so hard to be this good looking."

"I bet. You probably hurt yourself the first time you tried to make yourself dashing." Hermione hid a smile behind her hand.

"Oh, you admit that I'm dashing? I'm honored, my lady." He said, sarcasm dripping off his smirk. Hermione just shook her head at his over blown ego.

"I guess there's no one at this school for me. I'm sure some guy will show up for me sometime." The head girl said with optimism.

"No need to force the happy attitude, Hermione." Draco teased her as he closed his eyes.

"Oh, you're impossible to get along with." She huffed as she crossed her arms.

"What time is it?" Draco asked after a little while, his eyes staying decisively closed.

"9:10." Hermione blinked in surprise at her watch. She didn't notice how much time had gone by during their conversation.

"See what a little fun can do with time?" Draco smirked in happiness that he was right.

"Yeah, yeah." Hermione deadpanned. "You're getting heavy, move."

"Hey, don't shove me!" Draco yelped as Hermione pushed his legs off of her lap and onto the ground. Before she could do anything, he lifted his legs and put them right where they had been. "It's comfortable. Leave me alone."

"But you're so freaking heavy." Hermione complained.

"Come here." He ordered, lifting his left hand and beckoned her closer to him.

All he got in response was silence and a funny look.

"I don't bite. Well… unless you want me too, but I won't." Draco told her as he leaned forward and grabbed her arm and yanking her down to lie on top of him. Shifting his legs, he took them off of hers and he felt her move her feet to sit on the couch beside his. "See? Much more comfortable."

"Mm…" she answered with a hum of comfort. "Who would have thought that lying on top of someone else could even be thought as comfortable?"

Draco didn't answer and settled for letting go of her arm and moving it to wrap over her waist. In reality, he never thought that having someone resting all weight on him was going to be comfortable. That was why he never let any of the girls he had been with do that with him. All two of them.

He heard a sigh of happiness as Hermione closed her eyes. Draco knew that Hermione was stressed about various things. Most prominent was the fear of her best friends who were off doing who knew what out in the world. She was told to stay behind to find information on anything they would need for field work.

Unconsciously, Draco's hand that was resting on her back started to move in soothing circles, causing Hermione to become sleepy and fall asleep sprawled on top of Draco. He, of course, was oblivious to the fact that she was peacefully sleeping on top of him and didn't do anything other than fall asleep himself.

TBC.

AN: let me know if there's any grammar or missing word problems. I've noticed that when I uploaded somethings seem to be missing. Let me know if it is confusing and I need to look through it again. Please review for the SANITY of the AUTHOR!

-LDB


	2. Chapter 2

Can I be your Love?

Chapter 2

AN: Thanks for all my reviewers and readers! You guys are the best! I'm not sure how much I'll be able to write, but I promise to try my best. I'll be writing a lot for my class so who knows what'll happen.

I don't know what's going to happen, plot wise in my story. It might end up with massive ramblings… so just watch out.

Disclaimer: Nope. Still not mine.

Hermione woke up the next morning in a strange situation. She kind of figured that she fell asleep on top of Draco when she felt the strange bump underneath her, but when she tried to get off, she found that she was trapped under his arm and that he wasn't about to move it.

"Why's my blanket moving?" She heard him murmur to himself as he moved both hands to pull her back to where she was.

"Malfoy?" Hermione choked out. "Wake up, please?"

He made some sort of noise in the back of his throat as he forced himself awake.

"What?" his eyes peeled open slowly and they slowly focused on Hermione's face. "Good morning, dear."

"Please don't joke around." Hermione said before asking, "Can you let me go?"

"No, I don't think so." Draco's arm stayed right where it was and if anything became more rigid to prevent any movement on Hermione's part.

"Please? I really need to move, I'm stiff." The girl complained. Hell no way was she going to say that she needed to go to the bathroom as her first line of defense. But if it was pushed, she would bring out the big guns.

When she didn't feel him move at all, she gave him the big pleading puppy eyes and he, with a groan, finally moved his arm and Hermione was able to carefully climb off of him.

"Now I'm cold." Draco whined with a pout. He curled into a ball with his back to where Hermione was standing relighting the fire and grabbing a throw blanket.

"Stop complaining, Your Highness. It's not very becoming." She tucked the blanket over his shoulders before going into the bathroom.

As she was walking away, she could hear some grumbling about her insulting how great he was, but was overcome with his happiness that he was slightly warmer now.

When she returned several minutes later after going to the bathroom and going to get dressed in clean clothes, Hermione noticed that Draco was sitting up on the couch with the blanket wrapped around his shoulders looking blankly into the fire. His hair was slightly mussed, which was weird, since it was basically perfect when they woke up just the little while before.

"I'm going down to breakfast." Hermione said, effectively snapping him out of his stupor. His head came up and he looked at Hermione with a puzzled expression. "What? Is something wrong?"

"Yes." At his short answer, Hermione only blinked in surprise. She had no idea what would be wrong that early in the morning and had no idea if she would be overstepping any boundaries by asking. But when she went to open her mouth to ask if it would be alright to talk about it, Draco cut her off. "Yes you may ask."

"Oh, ok. Um… well. What's wrong?" She fidgeted slightly where she was standing by the end of the couch.

"All of this." Draco racked his hand through his hair. "I've hated you my entire life. Maybe not _hate_ but you know… anyway, it was weird. I was insulting you last night and then we end up falling asleep together? And I didn't mind. More so, I liked it. And the REAL kicker is that I wish that we could do it again…"

He looked up at Hermione, slightly nervous, but he had to see what her reaction was. Worried that she was going to hit him again as a repeat of their third year, he made sure that she was just out of hitting range.

At first her face was void of expression, then it was slightly thoughtful and a small smile tugged at her lips. Moving, Hermione went to sit down right next to Draco who was still nervous and shifted so he could see her better from where he sat.

"You're so funny when you're flustered like that." She told him with that same small smile.

"I am so not flustered." Draco sniffed indignantly in a futile attempt to hide his feelings.

"Sure, Draco. Sure."

"You said my name."

"Yes."

"Cool. Can I call you Hermione too?"

"I never stopped you before."

"Kiss me?"

"You think I'm that easy?" Hermione's smile became wider and she winked at him. "You're going to have to work for that kiss if you really want it."

"What do I have to do?" He didn't know why he was asking, but something told him that he really really wanted Hermione to kiss him.

"You can start by walking me down to breakfast. But you might want to get yourself dressed and groomed." Hermione leaned back to wait for him as he scrambled up in a tangle of blanket and rushed up to his room and bathroom.

Three minutes later, he rushed down in clean slacks and turtleneck pulling a jacket over his shoulders. He had to sit down on the couch next to Hermione to tie up his shoes before jumping up and presenting himself to her.

"What do you think? Ready for public?"

"Yes. Very nice." Hermione started to push herself off of the couch when she felt Draco take her hand and lightly pulled her up to her feet. "Thank you. Shall we go?"

"Yes." They made their way to the Great Hall together, their hands not touching, but they were walking close to each other. Hermione was encouraging Draco to do his best, and Draco was just trying to be as close as possible to her as he could be without touching her. When they arrived at the doors, he held it open for her to pass through first.

It was still fairly early and very few people were in there. A few teachers were at the Head table and several early risers were scattered around the room eating breakfast. Draco walked with Hermione to her seat before leaving her to go to his at the Slytherin table.

Hermione happily ate her breakfast with her mug of hot chocolate. Chocolate was the best thing in the world for her. It pulled her through some of the deep times she went through that past year. It was better than drugs even.

Even though Harry and Ron left school months ago, she always looked up whenever someone came in through the doors, thinking that it was them and they were going to sit on either side of her like the usually did and their lives would be normal.

She looked up dozens of time but like all the days before, there was no sign of her best friends. Her meal went in silence, her mostly listening to the conversations of the other early risers around her. She couldn't understand how the others could go about their daily lives with minimal amount of worry. Hermione was always looking over her shoulder and resting her hand over her wand. Just in case, she would always tell herself.

She finished her cocoa and stood up from her seat, intent on going to her room or library to study for a little while. When she reached the Head's dormitory, Hermione heard a voice from behind her.

"Where are you going?"

Turning around, she knew that Draco was standing there with some weird notion that he still wanted to do something for her.

"I'm going to study a little. I don't want to fall behind." She pushed the door open and walked into the common room, leaving the blonde in the hall. He walked in after her and closed the door behind him.

"How long are you going to study?" he had his arms crossed when she turned to look at him.

"Just a couple of hours. I was planning on taking the afternoon off." She pulled her text book off the shelf and went to the window seat. "Why?"

"Oh I was just thinking we might be able to do something together later?" He went and took a couple steps closer to where she was sitting and leaned against his desk.

"That would be nice. Just… no flying, please?"

"Ok. It's still kind of cold outside."

"You don't like the cold?" Hermione looked up in surprise. He always seemed like it would fit him. Living in the cold manor and then down in the dungeon area of the castle.

"I hate the cold. I've had to live in cold places my entire life. That was the main reason why I worked so hard to get Head Boy status. It's ACTUALLY above ground. And it's warm. I like the warm much better." He told her with a little smile. "I bet you never knew that."

"There's not much I know about you, Malfoy." Hermione told him but held up a hand to stave off any remarks. "I'm going to study. Write a memo and we can talk about it later. Okay?"

"Sure." Draco stood up and left the common room to wander the halls of the castle. "What can we do for fun…."

Head Boy and Head Girl were allowed to go to the village when there was free time and when they got permission from the Headmistress. Draco went to go get that permission.

He knocked politely on the door of her office after walking up the spiraling stairs behind the gargoyle. Draco was beckoned in and he went to stand in front of McGonagall.

"What can I do for you, Mr. Malfoy?"

"I would like permission for myself to take the Head Girl for a date in Hogsmeade this afternoon."

Most people use the term double-take just as a term. But McGonagall jerked back in surprise and her mouth formed the statement that was just spoken by her Head Boy.

"Excuse me? Did you just ask if you could take Hermione Granger on a date to the village?" She was bewildered beyond all reason.

"Yes I did. I am not particularly asking for permission to take her on a date. But more for the permission to go down to the village today." Draco knew that there would be some sort of reaction on the Professor's half. But that was much more entertaining than he thought.

"If it's alright with Hermione, you may both go down to the village later today. What time do you plan on leaving and returning?" she fixed her glasses on her nose as she peered up at her student.

"I was thinking of leaving around 11:30 and returning by 3:30. Would that be alright?"

"That will be fine." The woman said after a moment of logging the information away.

"Thank you, Headmistress." Draco nodded to her before leaving the office to head for the library. He had a book with him that he needed to return. As per his character, he took the long way, harassing a couple of straggling kids before sneaking into the Library. No one ever saw him in there. It would be the end of Draco Malfoy as everyone knew if he was seen in there.

He snuck in, turned in his book and ducked out again. He pumped his fist in the air when he was safely away from the Library. Safe again.

Now he had to devise a way to persuade Hermione to actually join him for lunch and tea in Hogsmeade. He supposed that asking outright might be the best way. A smirk tugged at his lips and he hurried back to the common room.

He walked through the common room quietly so as to not disturb the girl who was skimming through the book. Technically it was a new book as Draco saw that there was a stack of five books at her feet.

Slipping up to his room, Draco pulled out his wand and put up a silencing spell on his room so he wouldn't disturb the witch downstairs with any noise he might make. First he went to his closet and pulled out one of his warmer jackets and swapped it with the one that he was wearing at the moment.

Checking the clock he saw that he still had enough time to finish up what he needed and persuade Hermione to join him for lunch and tea. He looked into the mirror and swept his hand through his hair so it would lie back down properly.

Once he was sure that his looks were perfect, he took up his wand again and waved it with a short incantation and made a small bouquet of red roses appear. Taking a perfect blossom from the batch, he set it onto his nightstand before putting the others into a vase.

Putting his wand away into his jacket pocket, Draco took both the vase and the single rose into the living area. He placed the vase onto the coffee table in front of the fire before going to stand by Hermione who was in the middle of her seventh book.

"Hermione?"

"Yes?" she looked up briefly from her book to look at the rose that was handed to her.

"It's almost lunch time. I was wondering if you would be so kind as to join me in the village for the afternoon?"


	3. Chapter 3

Can I be your Love?

Chapter 3

AN: yay for update. Sorry for taking so long. enjoy

Disclaimer: I wish. Yet it doesn't come true.

Hermione's hand had just finished closing around the stem of the rose when Draco asked his question. All she could do was blink up at him. She had no idea that he wanted to talk to her that much that he would take her off school grounds.

"Oh. Well, sure. If it's alright with Professor McGonagall." She trailed off. It would be the first time she would be off the school grounds with her Head privileges.

"I went up and checked with her earlier. She said it's ok. So is that a yes?" Draco looked into her brown eyes with a pleading look.

"Yes, it's a yes, Draco. How long will we be out?" She stood and started to clean up the stack of books that were on the ground. Draco leaned forward and took the books out of her hands and started to place them back on the shelf where they lived.

"Until 3:30. We're going to stay for early tea, too." Draco told her as he walked back to her to drag her up to her room for her coat. "Come come. We want to get a good seat for lunch."

"Ok ok. I'm going." Hermione laughed and went to grab her long coat off of it's hanger in the closet before putting her rose into a vase on her bedside table. "Ok. Let me grab my bag…."

Draco leaned against the door frame as he watched Hermione grab her purse while throwing in her wallet, sunglasses, and a whole lot of other things that he had no idea what they were.

"Um… we're going to lunch. You need…." He paused and ticked out his fingers. "Your coat. Stop fussing around and go!"

"No need to rush a girl, Draco. We will leave all in good time. And besides I need my wallet and my pictures of my family and my chapstick and my sunglasses and my-" Hermione said as she rooted through her bag, holding up each item.

"Ok Ok! Stop. I get it. You can't leave without any of those things. We'll just…. Have to walk quickly. I'm kinda getting hungry." Draco looked at her as she threw in some other obscure objects into her bag.

"Ok I'm ready." She placed her hands on her hips as she surveyed her bag.

"Good. Let's go."

"WAIT!"

Draco stopped in surprise. His eyes were wide with fear at the ferocity of her voice. All he did was turn to go to the door and she screams at him.

"I have to go to the bathroom first." She said calmly as she made her way out of her room and into the bathroom down the hall. Draco sighed with relief that that was all that was wrong. He stepped to her bag and lifted it, with slight amazement on how heavy it was, before going off to wait for her at the top of the stairs.

She came out three minutes later, her hair brushed out, teeth cleaned, and refreshed.

"Now can we go?" Draco asked her as she slipped her coat on before relieving him of his hold on her bag.

"Yes. We may go." She led the way down the stairs and to the door. "You know? Patience is another thing that I would like in a guy."

"Patience, huh?" Draco thought of himself. He was most defiantly not a patient person. "I'm not much of a patient type of person, Hermione."

"No? That's too bad. You might get a little unhappy with me then." They walked through the halls and out to the grounds. Everyone was at lunch and didn't notice their two Heads walking together. "I tend to do some things a little slower than others."

"Only because you're careful, right?" Draco asked the Gryffindor beside him.

"That and I'm indecisive."

"Oh. Great." He thought about how long he would have to wait before he would be able to eat anything. Draco's face paled ever so slightly. "Uh… do you happen to be indecisive about food?"

"Oh. Yes. Food is the hardest one of them all." She smiled up at him innocently. Internally, she was giggling like mad as she watched Draco slow down ever so slightly beside her.

They walked in silence as they passed the gates to the village road. Hermione watched Draco as they got closer to the town. He was trying to hurry up, she could tell.

"You're really hungry, aren't you?" Hermione asked as they walked down the main road.

"Yes. I'm famished." Draco grabbed her arm and dragged her down a side road and into a small diner. The waitress seated the two students quickly and took their drink orders before letting them look down at their menus. While the waitress left to fill their drink orders, Draco snatched up one of the menus and nearly slamming it in front of Hermione before taking up his own.

"Wow. Everything looks so good. I wonder what I should get." Hermione sat there gazing at her menu. She had decided rather quickly, but wanted to see how far she could push Draco before he broke down.

"I already know." Draco informed her as he put his menu down. It was a secret of his that he guarded with everything he had, but he was about to let that secret out with the one and only Gryffindor Princess.

"Hm… I can't decide…. What do you think I should get?" Hermione asked the Head Boy.

"What kinds of things do you like?" Draco asked, trying to be patient. He was still trying to figure out how to weasel a kiss out of the Head Girl.

"I do like noodles a lot. But I can't decide on which one to order." Hermione knew which one she wanted. Fettuccini Alfredo was her favorite by far and she had heard that this particular restaurant made a superb sauce. She wasn't about to let Draco know that she had chosen what she wanted to order.

Draco heaved a sigh, trying desperately to just help her decide and order so he could eat. Patience was something she wanted, so he could try to get that kiss from her sooner than later.

"Any type of allergies from anything in the sauces?"

"No. I'm not too fond of seafood though." Hermione made it easier for him as she cut the list into a third.

"Anything you've had recently?" The blonde leaned back in an effort not to reach over point at some random thing on the list and make her eat it.

"Last night was the lasagna…"

"So no more red sauce?" Draco cut her off in hopes that he was right. At her nod, he pumped his fist under the table out of her sight, and continued to whittle down the list. "Do you like any particular noodle more than others?"

"Not really, no." Hermione said indecisively.

"Well why don't you try the fettuccini alfredo. It's supposed to be really good here." Draco asked.

"Sounds good." Hermione was surprised but covered it up perfectly.

When Draco looked up to wave the waitress back over to order, he saw that she was making her way over to them with their drinks on a tray.

"Are you ready to order?" she asked politely as she put Hermione's glass by her plate before going to Draco.

"Yes. She'll be having the fettuccini alfredo. I'd like the clam chowder bread bowl, please." Draco ordered for the both of them when the waitress put his drink down and pulled out a pad to write down the orders.

"Anything else?" she knew they didn't want anything else. If Draco Malfoy wanted it, he would let you know before saying please. But her management dictated that she had to ask anyway.

"No. That will be all for now."

"Your orders will be made immediately." She turned and walked away to leave them to their conversation while their food was prepared.

"So why did you want me to come to lunch with you?" Hermione asked as she took a sip of her sparkling water.

"Because I wanted your company. I thought it would be a nice change of scenery to come to the village and thought that you would like to join me. Is that a bad thing?" Draco leaned forward ever so slightly towards her.

"No. Nothing's bad about it. I was just curious… You actually _want_ my company?" Hermione leaned across the table to flick a piece of his hair out of his eyes.

"Hey, hey. No touching the hair." He rushed to pull out a small mirror and fix his hair with his own fingers.

"You're so egotistical, it's funny. And do you really carry around a mirror with you all the time?" Hermione asked in wonder. She knew the man was very self conscious of his looks, but to go as far as to carry a real mirror all the time was unbelievable.

"You'd be surprised what a single mirror could do to save one's life." He murmured quietly. Hermione heard but didn't say anything. She knew the importance of having a mirror. Ever since her second year, she always carried a mirror with her. Conjuring one up with magic was possible, yes, but she carried a real one with her in case anything happened to her wand or magic. It was also heavy enough to do some damage if it were to connect with her attacker's face, if it came to that.

The waitress came by with their orders when they reached that lull in their conversation.

"There you go," she placed the plates in front of the students. "Enjoy. If you need anything else, flag me down."

"Thank you." Hermione smiled up at the older witch and picked up her fork and spoon. "I do believe there was something you were going to ask me earlier today. What was it?"

"Hm?" Draco lowered his spoon from his mouth. He had completely forgotten anything he was going to ask her. He thought back to their conversations earlier that day. "OH! I remember. We were going to talk and tell each other more about ourselves. Right?"

"Yes. Very good. You remembered." Hermione smiled as Draco puffed up with pride at being right. "Shall I start? Or would you like to?"

"I'll start so you can eat." Draco took a sip of his soup.

"We can alternate."

"Oh sounds fun. Ok." He paused to think of what he wanted to say first. "I'm the only son and heir to the Malfoy family."

"Ok. My birthday is September 19, 1979. I'm the only child of my parents, I have a cat that I love to pieces and can't seem to understand some things about him. I have a large extended family, but my dad doesn't get along well with his parents so we don't get to see my grandparents very often." She paused and thought. "I have lots of cousins, both older and younger and we always have fun doing things together. Since some of them live close by, I used to spend my weekends with them, going to the park and go shopping with them or just spending the afternoon sitting in the shade of the trees."

She stopped and started eating; Draco's cue that it was his turn.

"I was named after Draco the constellation as well as the lawgiver of ancient Greece. I was chosen to be the protector of the Dark Lord as well as the one to punish those who do wrong. A dragon is supposed to be strong, invincible, and legendary. I was to become that. I was trained since I was young by my father and other wizards. I was home schooled by the best tutors possible. The only reason why I was sent to Hogwarts was so I could gain colleagues of my own to side with me." He stopped their and nodded. That was enough of his talking for the moment.

Hermione didn't talk right away. One, she still had food in her mouth and two, she was surprised that Draco would share that kind of information with her so soon. He was acting strange since the night before so maybe he was sick and would get over it and take it back later. But that wasn't an issue at the moment so she moved on.

"I'm named after some Greek mythology person. I've never really been interested in where my name came from, but that's what my mother always told me. She just liked the sound of it. Jane is my middle name because my dad wanted to name his child something with a normal name." She thought and found she had nothing else to really say.

"I enjoy studying, but I can't show that to the others. I have to work hard to get the grades I do because I wasn't born smart, nor was I born from smart people so I have a hard time sometimes. My favorite classes are Potions, DADA, and Charms. I hate Transfiguration." Draco nodded for emphasis and took a bite of his bread.

"I enjoy studying too. I study because I have a weak personality and chose to bury myself in my homework rather than become a stronger person. I get flustered under stress of the moment and forget important things that get me into trouble. I still don't know what I want to do for work after school and if there will even be a world for me to live in." She looked across the table at the boy sitting silently staring stonily into his food. "What's wrong?"

"How can you suggest that you're weak?"

"How can you not say that you have friends?" Hermione countered. "You call them "colleagues" and "the others". Are they not your friends?"

"No. I have no friends."

TBC.

Review for the sanity of the Author


	4. Chapter 4

Can I be your Love?

Chapter 4

AN: finally got around to writing next chapter. I'M SO SORRY TO ANYONE WAITING (and cursing my very existence). But school and all…. It just gets in the way, ya know?

Disclaimer: Dreams are nice….

* * *

They sat in silence as they tried to stare down each other across the small table.

"Are you going to answer my question or are you just going to sit there and wallow in some strange emotion that I can't even start to comprehend?" Draco lifted his glass of cider after breaking the silence.

Hermione didn't answer for the few heartbeats after he voiced his question. She was slightly put off at his answer and then how he just dismissed any further discussion. Heaving a small sigh, she decided to let it go. It was a big step for Draco to have gotten that far.

"Alright. Fine. We'll drop both subjects and move on. I don't want to talk about it." Hermione said firmly. "My favorite color is green. But I can't wear any of my green clothes or everyone will call me a traitor to my own House."

"I can see why they'd call you that if you did. It's only a color though. It's not like you're going around wearing another House's emblem or anything." Draco took another spoonful of soup. "My favorite color is black. It's so dynamic and it seems to fit me really well."

"Black? Really… I thought it was silver or something like that." Hermione cocked her head to the side as a reaction to her confusion and thoughts. At Draco's nonchalant shrug of his shoulder, Hermione raised her eyebrow before raising her shoulder in response. "Let's see… I know. What do you want to know about me?"

To an untrained eye, Draco acted as if he didn't hear Hermione's suggestion, as he continued to ladle his hot soup into his mouth. Hermione, of course, can not be put into this category of "untrained eyes" and noticed his right eye twitched EVER so slightly before he covered it up by blinking. Being in absolutely no rush for an answer, Hermione settled down to eat her food before it got much colder. She absolutely hated eating food that had gone cold when it should be nice and warm.

They sat in silence. Not really a comfortable silence, but not an overly distressing or forced silence either. Hermione was enjoying her meal, as was Draco. The only difference was that Draco was trying to figure out what he really wanted to know about her. He didn't want to offend her on the first question, because that might not give him the chance to ask any other questions. But then again he had to think of what he wanted to know in case she only gave him one chance. He was mentally pulling his hair out, while to any outside viewer it seemed as if he was just enjoying his soup.

After a few minutes and several dozen eye twitches later, Hermione told him softly, "You could just ask."

Draco's blonde eyebrow arched perfectly over his "was twitching" eye. He had caught her meaning in her words. She didn't just mean "just ask a bloody question already", but instead she asked him to ask all the questions hindering his real question.

"How many of these questions do I get?"

"Questions about me? Hm…" Hermione thought as she twirled some more pasta onto her fork. "As many as you want."

"If I ask an insulting question, will you get mad at me or let me know that it was offensive and let me ask another one?" Draco's feet shifted in anticipation, not that it was an incredibly stressful moment, but just because he was a bundle of nerves at this point. He didn't really LIKE getting yelled at by girls.

"I'll let you know and we can move on." She smiled as Draco's body became just a fraction less tense than he was before she answered his question. She placed her forkful of food in her mouth, chewed slowly and swallowed as Draco continued thinking. Once she finished swallowing she asked him, "So, do you have your first question ready?"

He stirred his soup with his spoon, slowly breaking through the bread walls that were already soaked in the cream soup. There were too many questions in his head he didn't even know where to start.

"Why do you work so hard?"

He scooped up the last of his soup and drank it before he picked up his knife and fork to cut his bread bowl into smaller pieces.

Hermione leaned back into her chair as she mulled over his question.

"Well, I work hard because I want to succeed in whatever I'm working on. I work hard because what's the use of doing something that means anything with only a half effort or with almost no effort? If I want to do something I'm going to do it with as much enthusiasm as it warrants. I also work hard because it keeps me busy. Since my world is so uncontrollable I try to control whatever aspects I can, which just so happen to be mainly my schoolwork." She took a sip of her drink as she continued to think. "Because of my insecure personality I feel that if I don't work as hard as I push myself, then I'll be doing mediocre work and that that isn't good enough to survive in my world. You know?"

Draco was slicing his bread methodically throughout the entire answer nodding his head in understanding to what she had said. When he looked up at her ending question, he gave her a small smile and placed a slice of bread on her plate.

"Yes, I know."

He gave Hermione a break from talking, thinking of what his next question would be. Draco watched as his partner put her utensils down and picked up the bread he just placed on her plate.

"I have a question of my own Draco." She said as she repositioned the piece of bread between her fingers.

"Hm? And what would that question be?" He took another drink from his glass as he waited for Hermione's question.

"What was between you and Parkinson?"

Draco let out a bark of laughter before reeling himself back. Coughing lightly to regain his poise, he answered her question trying to fight off laughter and slight disgust. Hermione gave a half smile at his response before taking a bite of the bread as she waited for his response.

"From Pansy's point of view, she thought we had," he shuddered slightly in his seat, "love. From my point of view, she had an infatuation and I held disgust."

"Then why do you put up with her? Is it just because you want a devoted … person hanging onto your every word and movement?" Hermione had to cover her mouth to try and hide the smile that infected her at the look of horror that spread so quickly over Draco's face.

Again he gave a shudder.

"No. Oh Merlin, NO," his shoulders suddenly twitched in the same way they do whenever Pansy would put her hands there and he would fight to get them off of him. "I guess I put up with her because of retribution from my parents if I don't."

"Would your parents really harm you? Just for not liking Pansy hanging off of you all the time? I mean… they can't really hurt to too much. You are the only Malfoy to carry on the name. Isn't that… the whole point?" Hermione cleaned her fingers on the napkin on her lap.

"I guess I said that wrong. My dad would hurt me. My mum… well she might look at me disapprovingly." Hermione gave a sad smile at that. She took her last bite of food as he continued. "I like my mum. She's strict, but it's because she doesn't want me to mess up anything because of our rank. I d-didn't… mean…"

Hermione looked up at him in surprise.

"Did you just STUTTER?" Hermione's eyes widened in surprise and her mouth broke into a sweet smile as Draco's eyes mimicked hers.

"U-uh… n-no… I d-didn't.. stutter…"

Hermione cracked up into fits of laughter. Her laugh carried throughout the restaurant and the few other patrons that were sitting around turned to give her a look of amusement. In desperate measures to stop her laughter, she bit her bottom lip before covering her mouth with her napkin and both hands. After Draco had shot a look at everyone else in the vicinity, he took a short calming breath and shot a despairing look across the table to the girl who couldn't see it. She had buried her entire face into her napkin and her body was shaking from laughter that was just dying to come out.

Draco's arm shot up and he snapped his fingers. Their waitress came and he informed her that they were done and he would like the check. As the waitress scurried off to do his bidding, Draco turned back to Hermione whose body was shaking slightly.

"Hermione. I hope you're remembering to breathe." He leaned back hurriedly when he heard a sudden intake of air and a quiet giggle come from behind the napkin barricade. Giving a sigh and a small half smile, he turned and took the check from the waitress and paid the bill quickly.

Standing up, he put his napkin on the side of his plate and went to drag Hermione out of the restaurant.

"Come on." He took the napkin from her and put it on the table before grabbing her purse and frog marching her out the door.

Once clear of the restaurant, Hermione brought her hands from her face and tried to take deep breaths. Instead she saw Draco standing in front of her holding onto her purse for her and she just cracked up anew.

"Merlin, woman! Calm down." Draco half yelled in exasperation, just wanting to be heard over the mad laughter emanating from the Head Girl.

"You…"

She giggled.

"Just…"

She snorted unlady-like.

"STUTTERED!"

She had to lean against a wall to support her body.

"And"

She clutched her side.

"You."

Covering her mouth in a futile attempt to quiet her laughter she continued.

"Are holding onto my purse!"

She slowly slid down the wall to come to a semi seated position on the ground, her legs in an awkward position under her body. Giggling madly, possibly just from trying to hold it in for so long, Hermione failed to notice Draco's movements as he came to kneel in front of her.

"I'm going to have to ask you to stop laughing, Miss Granger." Draco told her sternly, putting a frown on his face in order to stop the smile that was tugging at the corner of his lips. Hermione looked up at him as she tried to brush the tears of laughter from her eyes and tried to quell the rise of a new wave of giggles. "If you don't I'm going to have to stop it myself."

The sly smile replaced his frown and Hermione caught his eye and immediately stop laughing. At her abrupt change, Draco pouted slightly. He had hoped that he _would_ have been able to stop her.

"Too bad, Mister Malfoy." Hermione smiled broadly at him as she put the pad of her forefinger on the tip of his nose. "Good try. But you aren't gonna get that _quite_ yet."

Moving her hands, she placed them on his forearms and pushed herself off of the ground. She waited for Draco to stand up as well before relieving him of her purse.

"Alright, where are we going now?" Hermione shouldered her purse and hopped a few feet back and into the middle of the path.

"I was thinking of heading down to the bookstore. Would you like to join me?" Draco offered his arm to her.

"Would I ever NOT want to go to the bookstore?" Hermione hopped towards him and linked arms with him before tearing down the street towards the town's bookshop.


	5. Chapter 5

Can I be your Love?

Chapter 5

AN: uh… so… it's been two years. How've you all been? Good I hope. Anyway… Saw this in my list of stories. Now … *cough* I'm graduated… so… I have lots of time on my hands… so I'll try and finish this. For reals this time. And I'll try to give you guys a decent ending.

Hermione burst into the bookstore hair streaming in behind her. Draco pulled himself up from the bent over position that he was in because of Hermione's enthusiasm as she bolted down the long street to the store.

"Geez…" He sucked in a deep breath and exhaled slowly as he cracked his neck back into its proper position. "Ever the enthusiast for books, eh Hermione?"

"Yes. There's nothing wrong with loving books. Besides, there's supposed to be a new shipment of books this past week." She gave Draco's elbow a pat and wandered deeper into the store, letting the musty atmosphere wrap around her.

After making sure that he was all put together properly, Draco followed Hermione's movements. As she stared intently at the shelves and the tomes that resided there, Hermione was completely oblivious to the man besides her staring at her with the same intensity.

Hermione pulled several books from the shelves, leafing through their vast pages before putting them back in its proper spot. Once they had finished combing though the entire first floor, Hermione went to the back and climbed up the narrow set of stairs that lead up to the small second floor.

"What's up here?" Draco was surprised that there was even a second floor to the store, but had no idea why the need for separation.

Hermione paused slightly as she heard his voice. "How long has he been following me?" she thought wildly to herself. "These are the books that are in disrepair and don't sell. But they're cheap and still work. Usually when I come in here I help put them back together the Muggle way. It's sturdier that way… rather than fixing it by magic."

"Oh. Wow. How did they get into such bad shape?" Draco picked up the cover of one of the books. He turned it around in his hands before putting it back on the stack of papers it was once bound to.

"Oh, mostly kids coming in and pulling pranks. Ripping pages out of books, getting them wet, that kind of thing." Hermione looked down at the new stack of books and started sorting through them. Some books would have to be fixed by magic which would be done by the store owner; others that were just falling apart would be put in her small pile.

"Wow. Do you help out often?" Draco wandered through the stacks of books.

"When I can. I'm not that good at it…but the owner appreciates it. Then he can sell them and get them out of his store so he can have room for the other books." Hermione dusted off her hands and looked at Draco. "But we aren't doing any of that today, what else did you want to do?"

Glancing at the time, he saw that it was almost two o'clock. Taking her hand, Draco lead Hermione down the stairs and asked her.

"Any books you wanted to get?"

"Hm… No. I'll get them next Hogsmeade day. I just wanted to see what they had."

"Ok, well I was thinking of going to the pet shop, I have to get some more treats for Niera." Draco's owl might be an impressive sight, but watching that bird eat was even more amazing.

"Sounds good. I need to get Crookshanks a new brush. The little monster broke his last night." Hermione laughed a little. It was interesting how both Crookshanks and she had the same problem with their hair. True Hermione's had become a little nicer after the past summer of working hard at trying to figure out how to make it a little more manageable.

The pair walked down the street in silence towards the next shop. Hermione was enjoying the cool clear weather, staring up at the sky, making sure that her elbow was touching Draco's arm so she wouldn't veer off into the gutter or into a building. Draco was silent because he was still thinking of how he was going to win a kiss from Hermione. He didn't want to think of it as a game or a challenge. Those were saved for Truth or Dare games. And even though he knew a relationship wouldn't survive between them, he still wanted to know, needed to know.

Arriving at the store, Draco opened the door for Hermione as she finally tilted her head back to the earth. Stating her thanks, she passed him and entered the warm building and headed towards the cat section of the store.

The blonde followed her and leaned his hip on the shelves that held the collars, brushes, and toys for the feline species. He noticed Hermione's lips tug at the corner of her mouth as she contemplated her choices of brushes.

"Maybe I just need…" Hermione murmured to herself.

"A shaver?" Draco concluded her sentence with his trademark smirk gracing his lips.

"That's not nice, Malfoy. You know it'd be horrible to see Crookshanks bald." Hermione stated as she picked up a brush to run her fingers over the bristles.

"Yeah, you're right. But you could then knit him a sweater and a hat and oh oh! How about socks?" Draco grinned evilly before Hermione turned and whacked his arm with the brush, bristles towards him, effectively poking him several times in the process.

"Don't be mean." She gave him a small glare before turning back to the shelves and picking up several other brushes, inspecting each one carefully before making her choice. "Did you pick out treats for that black hole of yours?"

"And you say I shouldn't be mean." Draco quipped back as he went to the appropriate shelf and snatched up a few bags of treats before taking her to the counter and swiping the brush from Hermione's hand and paying for both items before the girl could react.

By the time Hermione was able to splutter out "I could have paid for that myself", Draco was already giving the clerk a curt nod in thanks and steering her out of the shop.

"I know you _could_ have, Hermione." Draco said as he glanced up and down the street. "But that doesn't mean that I didn't _want_ to buy it for you. Even if it's for your monstrous cat."

All Hermione could do was give a wry smile. He was trying to be sweet. But he was still Draco Malfoy. That much was clear.

"Would you like to get some tea next? Or look at some of the other shops?" Hermione decided that it would be better if they just stayed away from the topic of her furry friend.

"I'll let the lady decide on where she wants to go next." Draco silently agreed with Hermione's choice in changing the subject. There was only oh so much he wanted to talk about her cat. Too many times had he come across the infernal being and barely got away uninjured. He swore to any deities that the cat was out to get him.

Noticing that Draco was somewhere else in his thoughts, Hermione reached out to tug on his sleeve as she moved down the lane towards the tea house.

"We'll window shop as we go to tea, shall we?" Draco blinked hard as he wrenched his mind away from the near death experiences by claws when he heard Hermione's voice and the light tugging on his arm.

"That sounds like a good plan." He turned his body and started down the lane towards a less pink version of Madam Puddifoot's. "I was thinking we could go to the café at the end of the lane. Would that be alright?"

"Sounds good to me." Hermione chirped from his side. "Hey."

Draco looked sideways at his companion, raising an eyebrow in question.

"What were you thinking about back there? You were zoning for a good minute and a half."

Holding back an involuntary shudder, Draco just shook his head.

"It was nothing. My mind was stuck on something, that's all."

Though not really understanding what he meant by that, Hermione just nodded at his answer before looking at the shops they were passing by.

None of the stores held anything new since their last school visit to the village, but it was always interesting to see the new display cases for the different seasons. Hermione stopped to admire some new quills and ink wells at the stationary store and Draco was mesmerized by the Quidditch shop. She allowed a handful of minutes for Draco to admire the sport equipment, but ended up tapping his arm with her elbow as she started down the road again.

By the time they reached the tea shop their noses had become pink with the chilled air and they welcomed the blast of heat that wafted around them as they entered the building. A nice elderly witch greeted them at the door and led them to a cozy table, sensibly decorated with blooming flowers and plain tablecloth.

Once seated, Hermione rubbed her hands together, trying to regain some of her circulation in her fingers that had been lost in the short walk through the village. Noticing her actions, Draco reached out, taking her hands into his larger ones, and heating them through the physical contact.

Rough calluses rubbed over the smoothness of her own skin, surprising Hermione. She always figured that Draco would have smooth hands, never even considering the idea that he would be someone who didn't mind working with them. She let him continue for a full minute before she gave a small sigh, signaling that her fingers had regained their blood flow.

He pulled his hands back slowly, letting his fingers linger as he drew them across hers. It could have been considered shy or even seductive, but Hermione felt that it was more likely a desire to retain the feeling.

"Thanks." Hermione actually flushed a little as she put her hands into her lap. "What kind of tea shall we have today?"

"The menu here says that they have a new black tea from Russia. Shall we give it a try?" Draco was looking at the placard stand with the promotion. "This says that it goes well with their classic cookie."

"Sounds good to me."

Draco waved the server and put in their order before turning back to study Hermione. It was potentially their last year of seeing each other and some foreign emotion was catching up to him.

"You ok? You look… confused." Hermione leaned forward in her seat to peer into his face.

"Ah, it's nothing much. I just…" he paused. "I'm not really sure. It just feels like I'm going to miss you."

When Hermione started to open her mouth to reply, Draco jerked his head, shaking it. She relented and refrained from asking anything. They sat in silence as their tea was brought to them. Thanking the server, they were left in silence again.

"Is the weather going to hold for the next Quiddich match?" Hermione pondered as she looked out at the patchy sky.

"Most likely. Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff seem to have decent weather for their matches. It'll be good, they'll have a shot at getting house points."

"They are lagging, aren't they?" Hermione laughed lightly. Between herself and Draco they had dominated the house points.

"You know, I would really think that Professor McGonagall would have banned us from getting points. This hardly seems fair." Draco blew on his tea before taking a sip.

"Well, maybe our fellow classmates should work harder at raising their hands." Hermione smiled at him. She reminded him of the Cheshire cat. And the Mona Lisa. So many tricks and secrets were held in that smile.

They spent the rest of tea time chatting about aimless and harmless topics ranging from the giant squid in the lake to the pumpkin juice at dinner.

"I mean really, is it hard to serve plain water?" Draco said as he held the door open for Hermione as they left the tea shop.

"You really don't like pumpkin juice."

Hermione's laugh reverberated off the nearby stores as she watched Draco shudder and mime trying to get a bad taste from his tongue.

By the time they made it up the hill and back onto the castle grounds, Hermione was hot. What had been a lovely slope down was always harder at the end of the day going back up.

"I knew there was a reason I never went down to the village before." Hermione only ever went down to the village during organized trips. That way she was sure to have a carriage ride back.

"Getting hot?" Draco had opened his jacket at the bottom of the hill, having had the experience of making the trek back to the school.

"A little." Deftly, Hermione undid her buttons to open the collar of her jacket, letting the cool air brush across her neck. "We should probably go through the suggestion box tonight if you have time."

The suggestion box was where the students could write down ideas for school functions or events or even changes to the menu. It was the Heads' job to filter through them and follow through on the decent ideas. Most of the time people would write down random stuff and throw it into the box. Each time they went through the box, it seemed to take longer and longer.

"I don't have anything to do. And it has been a while, hasn't it?" Draco helped Hermione up a particularly steep incline. His hand continued to hold hers. "Your fingers are cold again."

"Are they?" Hermione flexed her other hand. They were cold. "We'd better hurry up, then."

Several minutes later, they strolled through the halls of the castle, space between them as other students milled around playing in the halls.

"No running!" Hermione called out to a set of second years rushing out to the fields with a frizbee. They only barely slowed down.

"Ah, the power we wield." Draco sighed. "We can tell people how fast they can move, what they can or cannot throw, life is good."

Hermione chuckled. It was true. All through her years she had always wanted to be able to tell people to slow down in the halls, especially when she had impaired vision because of a stack of books, but now, she actually had that power. She only admitted it to herself, but she used her Head power to call out students in the hall for running more than strictly necessary the first week of classes.

Their common room was cold when they entered, so Draco lit the fire while Hermione dragged out the suggestion box.

"I'll be right back. I'm going to wash up first." Hermione skipped up the stairs to the bathroom.

Draco sat on the couch and stared at the roses he had conjured up. When she came back down and plopped herself beside him, he pointed. She followed his finger to the flowers.

"Roses are my favorite."

"They're my favorite, too."

Review with ideas! If you have a good idea that fits and I can write, I'll try to get it in. I really have no idea where this is going, but I want to give it a good ending. Not this lame "not writing" end. Also, reviews give people smiles!


	6. Chapter 6

Can I be your Love?

Chapter 6

A piece of paper folded itself into a paper airplane and zoomed into the fireplace. Flames licked the edges of the paper and it turned to ash. Draco and Hermione finally finished going through the suggestion box.

A tiny stack of four pieces were carefully posted onto their planning board before the ritual of burning the scraps took place.

"I'll race you." Hermione lifted the next slip of paper. Usually, they fed the fire by unceremoniously dumping the notes by the shovelful. But Draco was lazy that evening, choosing instead to use his wand to send each bit fluttering to its doom. He had escalated to folding them into shapes before flying them through the air by the time Hermione returned from pinning up the potential plans.

"What rules." Draco shifted to make room for Hermione on the couch.

"First one to the fire wins."

"Do I get a prize if I win?" Nonchalantly, Draco draped his arm over the back of the couch, his fingers ghosting at Hermione's shoulder.

"Perhaps." Hermione's voice dropped into a slow sultry tone. "Was there something you were hoping for, Mr. Malfoy?"

He pondered a moment. Not the kiss. He wanted her to give it to him freely.

"A dance. Right here. Just for a minute."

Puzzlement floated in Hermione's brown eyes, but it quickly passed. She nodded.

"Ready?" She lifted her wand. He copied. "Go."

Hermione's paper flew and lit before Draco's was in the air. Blinking in astonishment, Draco turned, mouth lax as he rode out the shock.

"What prize would you like?" Draco asked cordially.

"No prize, just a rematch." He could not discern the look on her face. Instead, he lifted his wand again.

"Ready…go."

Hermione's zipped for the win. A groan rumbled in Draco's chest. He hurtled the paper into the fire.

"Again."

She was like the Mona Lisa, he swore it. Secretive. It was almost enough to make him go insane. It was definitely enough for him to run his hand through is hair as he lost the fifth, the fifteenth, the thirtieth round.

Then there was only one piece left. Draco was disheveled. He didn't even want to think of spells any more.

"Rematch." Hermione picked it up and put it in his hand. Her fingers were warm on his skin, so different than when they were down at Hogsmead.

Standing, Draco walked to the fire.

"Ready?" His eyes looked at Hermione as she spoke. "Go."

His fingers let go, the paper fluttered, caught, flared bright, then joined the rest of the ash.

"Congratulations. You've won." Hermione smiled at the mussed boy. She stood and, using her wand, pushed the coffee table out of the way. Placing the wand on the table, she walked up to Draco and held out her arms. "As winner, I do recall that you get a prize."

He stepped into her hold. Taking her hand and waist, Draco pulled her close and waited until her hand rested on his shoulder before slowly pulling her into a dance.

"Thank you for racing with me." Hermione was short and had to look up sharply to look at Draco's face. "You were a good sport. So you get an extra long prize."

"So my patience did pay off." He breathed in the scent of her shampoo, cherries and vanilla.

"I told you. Patience is something I look for in a guy." Shifting, Hermione rested her forehead on the edge of Draco's shoulder, letting the slow shuffle of their feet lull her.

"Why did you do it?" Draco asked softly into her hair. He was aiming for her ear, but hair was all he was able to manage.

"Hm?" Hermione shifted, snuggling into his warmth. "Do what?"

"Let me win."

"Did you not want to win?" Her head lifted from his shoulder, leaving cold air to fill its spot. Maybe she had done wrong, hurt his ego, by giving him the win.

"I did." He tightened his grip on her waist to prevent her from moving away. "Did you want me to win?"

Hermione bit her bottom lip and thought about her answer.

"Well, I kind of liked your prize. I do like giving rewards for hard work."

"And here I just thought you liked to yell at people who run in hallways." Draco's quiet laugh made Hermione smile and duck her head. "It's dinner time. You hungry?"

Her stomach growled its consent. Rather than becoming embarrassed like other girls, Hermione just sighed and patted her stomach.

"Time to feed the monster." She stepped out of Draco's hold as his hand left the side of her waist.

"There is no part of you that is a monster, Hermione."

The Great Hall was buzzing as students fought for seats. Draco left her side without a word to sit at the Slytherin table, leaving her to find Ginny.

"You and Malfoy look pretty close." Ginny had saved a seat for Hermione.

"What? We walked through a door."

"I meant this afternoon. I saw the two of you coming back from the village. You looked… comfortable." Ginny wagged her eyebrows in a slightly suggestive manner.

"Hey, it's not like that." Hermione turned to give her friend a hard look. "Don't go looking into things that don't exist. You'll get disappointed if you expect something."

"Sure, sure. Tell yourself that." Ginny spooned mashed potatoes onto their plates. "You'd make a really cute couple though. Such a waste of good genes."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Hermione spilled peas haphazardly onto her plate.

"Hm?" Innocence was sugar coated on Ginny's tone. "Nothing. I didn't say anything. Just that you're going to deny the world of brilliant and gorgeous babies."

"I don't even know _where_ you get these ideas from. But you should put a stop to it. We're in the middle of a war here, Ginny." Hermione chided the red-head. "Really you should be more of a wreck than me. That's your brother and your boyfriend out there."

"Yeah, yeah." Ginny sighed and rested her chin in her hand. "But honestly, if I wasn't dating Harry, then I would be all over the dating scene from the stress of it."

"Ginny Weasley! How can you even say that?"

"Hey, I have my parents as parents. _They _got married in the middle of a war. And let me tell you, it wasn't because it was an arranged marriage or anything. War does things to people." Meat was dished out. "Makes them willing to do all sorts of uncharacteristic things."

"I'm going to pretend that you are not suggesting disgusting things. You are sixteen. Get your head out of whatever is leading you to these thoughts." Hermione picked up her goblet and took a sip of pumpkin juice. She kept the cup to her lips to hide her smile as she thought back to Draco's expression of disgust at the mention of the drink.

"Secret smile. You're hiding something from me."

"A girl can have a secret." Hermione pointed out. "I'm not prying into every corner of _your_ life."

"I know. But if you wanted to know, I'd tell you." Ginny smiled. Weasel was an adequate term to describe it.

"Nothing to tell, little missy." They turned to their food, swapping information on the Weasley family.

As dessert disappeared back down to the kitchens, Ginny turned to Hermione.

"Are you going to come up to the Gryffindor Tower? It's been a while since you've spent the evening with us." Ginny stood and lead the way to the doors.

"Okay. But I'm not helping anyone with their homework."

"During the middle of vacation? I don't think anyone will be thinking of homework. We'll play a game or something." Ginny grabbed Hermione's hand and dragged her off to the tower.

The moon was hanging in the sky as Hermione made her way back to her rooms. The girls had painted her nails, with much complaints on her part. They were nice enough to steer away from the bright florescent colors they used on their own nails, so Hermione relented.

Pushing open the door to the Head rooms, Hermione saw that the fire was lit, but no one was in the room. The clock read just before 11. Cleaning herself up a little, she swapped for a warmer sweater and transferred her Head Girl badge before hunting down her partner.

"Malfoy?" She knocked on his bedroom door when she came up empty in the shared rooms. "You in there? We have to go on our patrol."

The door cracked open and Draco's face peered down at her. His eyes were slightly puffy and he looked tired but he walked out and closed his door behind him.

"I'm ready." His robes were crinkled and he shook them out as best he could as he strode down the corridors. Hermione lit her wand and trotted after him.

They walked in silence for a while, following their appointed route until finally Draco sighed and leaned against a window sill. He rubbed his face as if trying to wipe something from it.

"Draco? What happened?" Hermione came up beside him, but was careful not to disturb his personal bubble.

His hair fell loose as he shook his head. He couldn't tell Hermione. The topic was too sensitive. It would make them enemies again even though it wasn't his, nor her, fault. Harry and Ron had been captured and were held at Malfoy Manor for a short duration. Narcissa had brokered their escape with the help of the house elves, but telling Hermione would be hard on both of them. The two boys did not leave in the same state of health as they arrived.

"Nothing. Everything is fine." It wasn't. Narcissa had managed to get a short encoded message to her son ending with, "I'm proud of you, my dearest Draco. I'll always love you." And that did not sit well in Draco's stomach. Disobeying Voldemort's orders would lead to death if you were lucky, torture if not. Neither agreed with Draco.

"Everything is not fine." Hermione whispered. His gray eyes lifted to catch hers, hearing and seeing the worry in her tone. "Come on, we'll finish up and we'll get you to bed."

Hermione stepped aside and waited for him to take a slow step. She took the lead, but kept the pace slow as Draco dragged behind her. They were at the last leg of their patrol and was on their way back to their room when Draco reached out and took her hand. Heart leaping in surprise, Hermione looked back and saw the drooped head of the Head Boy. Without saying anything, she gripped his hand lightly and led him back to their rooms.

Once inside their room, Hermione doused the light from her wand and pushed Draco onto the couch. The little energy he had left seeped out of him as he leaned back into the cushions. He didn't let go of Hermione's hand so she had no choice but to sit beside him.

"You can't tell me?" Hermione didn't want to push him, but she was actually worried about his sudden change. The labored shaking of his head depressed Hermione's heart. She knew the look. Earlier she had mentioned her large extended family. With large families comes deaths. The look Draco had on his face was the same as her cousins when their parents were in a car accident and they were unsure of their condition. "It's ok. I'm here if you need anything."

"Can you… just stay here with me? For a little while?" Draco turned to look at her. She nodded. She would have even if they were still mortal enemies.

She broke their hand contact to get a blanket from the nearby chair. Kicking her shoes off, she curled up on the couch and threw the blanket over both of them. The night suddenly seemed much colder. And much less playful than the rest of their day.

"Your nails are painted." The comment was so offhand that it surprised Hermione. "I saw it before patrol. Did you have fun with your friends?"

Diversion. It was a tactic that was well used by people with a lot on their mind.

"It's fun for them. Not so much for me." Hermione flicked her nails. "I'll spend more time chipping this off than studying tomorrow. I guess this kind of thing is how the girls create a sense of control. Trivial things like that have always given them a form of power over something."

"You don't need to do things like paint your nails. There are always kids running in the halls." Draco took her hand and examined the polish.

"That's right." Hermione shifted and rested her head on the back of the couch so she could watch Draco. "What do you do when you want to control something?"

"The things I've been doing every day of my life." Draco copied her, kicking off his shoes and curling up. "Terrorizing first years, studying, flying. The usual."

"Fix your hair?" Hermione cracked a grin. "It's something I would do if I could actually get it to do what I want."

"I like your hair." Draco reached out and ran a finger through it carefully. "It has character all on its own."

"And a life." Her eyes drifted to the clock. It was already after one in the morning. Draco watched her eyes come back.

"You're tired. Go to bed." He said the words, but his finger continued to play with hair.

"You first." Hermione wasn't going to let him sit out on the couch by himself. "You've had a full day, going on a date, going through the suggestion box, you need to get some sleep. In a real bed. So, up you get."

Hermione stood and pulled him up. She unceremoniously pushed him into the bathroom and closed the door behind him. Going into her own room, she changed out of her clothes into her pajamas. Before, she had never walked out in them so Draco never knew that they were emerald green. Now that she had told him that green was her favorite color, she had no problem wearing it.

She heard the bathroom door open and footsteps trudge into his room. Quickly brushing her teeth and cleaning up, Hermione went to check on Draco. His door was open, which was weird. Hermione had never seen the inside of his room.

"Draco?" The room was dark and cold. He had said he hated the cold, so Hermione lit her wand and went to the fireplace, lighting it and throwing the room into warmth. When she turned around, she found him at the window, staring out into the night. She went up to him and laid a hand on his arm. "Hey."

He turned to her.

"You don't plan to sleep in your clothes for the second night in a row, do you?" Hermione pulled him away from the window. "Why don't you change while I close down the common room?"

"Will you come back?"

"Sure." Hermione walked slowly to the door to make sure that he moved to do what she said. When she got to the door she heard a drawer open and cloth rustling. She locked the windows and checked the door before dousing the fire and climbing the stairs again.

"Hermione?" Draco was in his doorway, holding onto the jam as if to steady himself.

"Yes, Draco?" Hermione walked up to him and lead him back inside, going to his bed and folding down his blankets.

"Can you stay?" Draco wasn't entirely sure what he was asking, but Hermione didn't seem to mind.

"As long as you want. Now go to sleep." Hermione tucked him into his blankets before sitting beside him, letting him rest his head on her hip. His eyes slowly shut and his breathing slowed and evened out as she ran her fingers through his hair.

Before long, Hermione lulled herself to sleep, slumping down to curl into the blankets in an attempt to stay warm.

Author's Notes: The story lives for its own now. I, as the author, seems to have lost a bit of control. We'll see if I can get it under control next chapter and let these two be happy.

As always, reviews are happiness. Send me happiness!


	7. Chapter 7

Can I be your Love?

Chapter 7

For the second morning in a row, Hermione woke, not in her own bed, but in the arms of Draco Malfoy. Never before did she sleep in the same direct area as boys and then, BAM, here she was, two nights in a row in the embrace of 'the enemy.'

Except he wasn't the enemy. He was far from it now. He was human, he talked with her, laughed with her, held her. And from what she saw last night, she knew just how vulnerable he was, his fragility, and his need for someone else. Hermione had naively assumed that everyone had someone they could cry to, who would hug them in silence and ease their pain. She was wrong. Seeing someone without that kind of someone else had cut her deep, creating a ravine of sorrow in her chest.

She would help him. Even if it was just to say "good morning" and "good night". Or even to just take the arguments and insults he would use to purge his soul.

Looking at him, Hermione took in his sharp features, his jaw and chin, his nose and cheekbones. But there were softening lines, the natural curve of his eyebrows, his long eyelashes, the shape of his mouth. She noticed the wrinkles furrowing between his eyes and how they reached his forehead, disappearing in his messy blonde hair. He must have tossed and turned in his sleep because his blankets were wrinkled and pillows were strewn over the bed.

With a couple of fingers, which she checked to make sure they were warm, Hermione rubbed them lightly on his forehead. An attempt to undo the wrinkles that had formed over the night. When he shifted, she finally recognized the weight on her. His arm was holding her to him and he had somehow managed to pull whatever blanket that was hanging over the edge of the bed to cover her curled body.

She continued to massage his forehead, but only succeeded in him burrowing his face into the crook of her neck and pulling her closer to his chest. There wasn't much she could do. She was wrapped up in the blanket like a burrito and barely had one hand free. Letting her fingers drop, it fell to his hair, so she occupied herself by playing with the golden locks.

The night before, she merely petted the top of his head with the rougher, palm side of her hand. Now that she was running her fingers through his hair, she felt how thin each silken strand was and she marveled at the comparison to her own thick hair.

"Hm…" Draco stirred, trying to say something in his mostly slumbering state.

"Good morning, Draco." Hermione removed her fingers from his hair and brushed it from his eyes as he pulled his head back.

"Hermione?" He looked confused as his mind tried to process through the haze of sleep. Then he let out a sigh and pressed his head on her shoulder before saying, "I was worried that you would leave in the middle of the night."

"I couldn't if I wanted to." She smiled and shifted, making her point when his hand held onto her tighter. "But I didn't want to leave anyway."

When Draco finally realized that it was his hand and arm keeping her in place and that it was sore from trying to pull her towards him, he let go. Rolling away from her, Draco lay on his back, staring at the canopy hanging above him.

"Were you able to sleep okay?" Hermione rolled and stretched on her stomach, her toes curling when they peeped out from under the blanket and the cold air nipped them.

"Some."

"My snoring didn't bother you, did it?" Hermione gave a small smile.

"No snoring." Draco tried to give her some semblance of a smile, but fell short. "You didn't move at all, actually."

"I think I was worried that I would fall off the bed." Tentatively, Hermione pulled the blankets off her and shivered at the cold air. She sat up and ran her hands through her hair, trying to shake out the tangles and failing miserably. It was as if tangles were creatures that crawled into her hair while she slept, even if she didn't move at all.

"You leaving?" Draco didn't look directly at her, but chose to focus on a point somewhere behind her.

"Just to go to the bathroom." Hermione paused. "Do you want me to come back?"

"No…That's not necessary." Draco dragged himself into a sitting position, hair sticking up in all directions. "I'll just…"

"How about we get dressed and get some breakfast? It's a little early, but you can take your time." Hermione waited for his nod before disappearing into the bathroom. When she went into her room to get changed, the shower turned on. She took her time getting dressed and dragging her brush through her hair.

Draco shuffled around in his room before appearing downstairs where Hermione waited. His hair was still damp, but Hermione could tell that he had run gel through it so it wouldn't be a repeat of his "just woke up" hair.

"Ready?" Hermione pulled on her robe with her Head badge and opened the door for him. He trudged through trying not to sigh ever few steps. "Shall we eat at the Head and Prefect table today?"

As an extra perk for the Heads and Prefects, there was a table set aside for those in the positions. It was also said to cultivate the relationship between the people, sometimes even being used to discipline pairs that were not getting along with each other.

"Are you asking me on a date, Miss Granger?" Draco teased her with a spark of his usual arrogance.

"Perhaps. Are you accepting the invitation?" Hermione felt her heart rise a little as Draco picked up his pace to match her steps.

"Who would turn down a date offered by the most sought after Head Girl?" Draco lead the way into the Great Hall. "I wouldn't."

The hall was completely empty. Hermione looked at her watch and blanched. If it was that early, then maybe the house elves hadn't finished preparing for the students.

Draco pulled Hermione's chair out for her and helped her settle before taking the seat to her right. Unlike the long tables on the main floor, the Heads' had simple wooden chairs. Sometimes, Draco would eat at the Heads' table just so he could lean back during a meal.

He utilized that feature as he sat down. There were no arms on the chair, so he just folded his hands over his stomach and leaned back. The silence in the hall was deafening. Suddenly, a side door to Hermione's left opened and Severus Snape walked in. Hermione shifted in her seat, as if she could meld into the wood if she fit just right into it.

"Draco. We need to talk." Snape's voice sounded raw and tight.

"Okay." Draco made no effort to move. From the side of his vision, Draco saw Hermione's gaze flicker between the professor and himself. "What is it?"

"Not here." Snape's gaze landed pointedly on Hermione briefly. "In private."

"I'm not moving, Professor." The title was strained. As was Snape's glare at Hermione's head.

"I'll just step outside." Hermione started to push her chair back, but stopped as Draco put a firm hand on it.

"Is it Mother?"

A curt nod.

"Then she stays. We live together and she's already getting affected by it. She might as well hear this now." Draco caught and held her eyes, silently asking her to stay. Her body relaxed and she offered her hand. He took it.

As Draco turned to look back up to Snape, he saw Hermione look down at the table, giving Snape the ability to break his news.

"Your mother is in a coma, Draco." The words registered slowly in Draco's mind and as thoughts rampaged in his mind, his fingers tightened around Hermione's. Snape continued, "I caught the news just this morning. She's stable, but there's no telling what her mind is like right now."

"Is she at a hospital?"

"They moved her when I got the message. She's in capable hands. But you won't be able to visit her." Snape actually sounded regretful. "You are—"

"—Head Boy. I have responsibilities here." A slow intake of breath shuddered slightly in his chest. "Thank you, Uncle Sev, for telling me."

Snape nodded to Draco, threw an indecipherable look at Hermione, which she caught, and swept out of the hall. When the door fell shut, Hermione swiveled to look at Draco, whose head had dropped. His posture was that of dejection. Much like how he had walked during the patrol the previous night. Clearly, his mother's condition was the cause to his worried expression.

"Hey." Draco turned his head to look sidelong at Hermione as she caught his attention. "Was this what was bothering you yesterday?"

He turned to face her, his legs brushing hers as he shifted. Hermione pushed down the small blush on her cheeks. This was _not_ the time for those emotions. But his knees sandwiching hers were a definite distraction. Mentally shaking her head, she focused back on the bleak situation at hand.

"I didn't know what to say. Or what to do." Draco took her other hand and held them on their knees. "Father is in jail. And now, Mother… I just never knew."

"War is something fought by different sides. We're closer to this war than most people." Hermione rubbed his hands with her thumbs in comforting circles. "And when our family gets affected by it, we get hurt too."

"Are you saying this is natural?" Draco looked like a lost stray cat out in the rain.

"It proves how much you love your parents. And your emotions are understandable." Hermione took a deep breath. She had never had to play such an important counseling role before. "It is natural, but more importantly: it naturally comes and _goes_."

He nodded and sighed. It was the first time this had ever happened to him. He couldn't even name most of the feelings that passed through him. What Hermione was saying made sense on a logical level, even if he had never contemplated them for himself.

The large doors opened at the end of the hall and Draco sat back, leaving one hand in Hermione's as he pulled it into his lap. Hermione did not look like she minded, but Draco was grateful that there was a table cloth to hide it from the other students.

Breakfast appeared on the tables in front of them and Draco slowly released his grip on Hermione's hand. She gave his a pat before leaning forward to pour hot chocolate for him. The surprised look on Draco's face made Hermione smile a little.

"Hot chocolate is medicine. It makes the hurt inside feel a little less." She poured some for herself as she looked up at the doors as students yawned their ways in. There still wasn't any news on Harry and Ron, so, like clockwork, Hermione's eyes would shift to the door whenever someone walked in.

As the early risers ate, Draco pushed his breakfast around on his plate with his fork and Hermione leisurely ate her cereal and fruit.

"What are your plans for today, Hermione?" Draco didn't look up from his plate, so he didn't see Hermione turn to study his face.

"I wasn't planning on much. There's some studying that I wanted to get done. Why? Was there something you wanted to do?"

"Could you… help me? With Transfiguration?" Draco was having a hard time dealing with a particularly tricky spell. "You're the only person who actually understands what is taught."

"Sure." Hermione saw him struggling with the spell during the class time. "There's plenty of study rooms open. I think I need to go over the explanation again. The professor was a little… convoluted in his explanation."

The professor that was sent to the school to replace Professor McGonagall when she took the Headmistress position was an underpaid desk attendant at the Ministry. They were stationed at the school because the human resources department saw that they excelled in the class and liked children. There was nothing about their ability to teach. That was learned the hard way by the students.

"Yeah…" Draco routinely tuned the professor out during class. Choosing to focus on something more interesting. Like Hermione, the clouds outside the window, the cats walking in the hall, or the dust accumulating in the corner.

"Eat what's on your plate, then we can go."

Draco didn't even realize that he was being mothered. But he ate at a steady pace until his plate was clean and his mug was empty.

"Done." Draco wiped his mouth and put his napkin on the table. Turning to the side, he saw Hermione set her mug down with a satisfied sigh.

"Okay. We can go, if you're ready." Draco nodded at her words and stood to help Hermione out of her own chair. "I need to grab some stuff from the rooms. Did you want to find a study room?"

"I'll go with you." Draco said. His mostly empty Transfiguration notebook was needed. As was the textbook.

The hall was still mostly empty, but Hermione said good morning to a few students who waved to her. She was very well liked by the studious children of the lower years. Even when she would scold them for breaking the rules, there were times that Draco would swear there was admiration in their eyes.

"Hermione!" A blonde girl waved at the Head Girl. Draco recognized her, Loony Lovegood.

"Luna, good morning." Hermione greeted the Ravenclaw girl. "You're up early."

"Never went to sleep." Luna yawned and shook out her troublesome hair. "My housemates were playing a game and I didn't get any rest."

"It's bound to happen during break. Even us Heads can't break up a party during vacation days." Hermione smiled apologetically.

"Well, I'm going to eat and sleep. See you later, Hermione." With a wave, Luna entered the Great Hall and dreamily wandered to her table.

The two Heads walked back to their common room and split in order to gather their belongings into their book bags. Hermione was tearing apart her study table in the common room looking for chalk when Draco stepped off the stairs to his room.

"Chalk is in the bottom left drawer of your desk." Draco stepped around the couch to pick up his quill set before setting it into his bag.

The sound of the drawer filled the room and her short breath of exasperation.

"How did you know that I was looking for chalk? And how did you know where it was?" Hermione latched her bag closed and turned to Draco where he waited by the door.

"You always take chalk when you go to a study room. And last time you came home from one you were really tired. You put the chalk in the bottom drawer by mistake." Draco motioned for Hermione to organize her desk before leaving. She rushed to put everything back into place.

They walked together in silence to the study rooms. More people were filing towards the Great Hall for breakfast and most shuffled past the Heads quickly and quietly. A few would greet them with a generic "good morning," though they were mostly directed to Hermione.

A few girls glared at Hermione and fluttered their eyelashes at Draco. When the Head Boy did nothing in response, the girls threw even dirtier looks at Hermione.

"Nice to know I'm appreciated." Hermione mumbled to herself.

"I appreciate you." Draco smiled at her. "Without the sarcasm you seem to be so inclined to use."

"Thanks." Hermione turned away so he wouldn't see her embarrassment.

When Hermione reached for the first study room door, she noticed that Draco continued to walk down the hall.

"Where are you going?" Hermione trotted to catch up with him.

"Your usual room." Draco opened a door at the far end of the hall. "It's quieter here, right? And the light stays better longer."

"How… do you know about all this?" Hermione looked at Draco in surprise.

"I used to get bored. And sometimes I like studying somewhere quiet, that isn't my room. But all the study rooms are full of students talking." Draco opened the door to her study space and let her in. "Your room was always the quietest. But there was no way I would have been able to study in there with you."

"Why not? I don't have strange studying habits." Hermione knew of the many odd habits that people would have while studying. Ron would grind his teeth. Harry would hum. Ginny would tap her fingers.

"How was I supposed to study if you're in the same room? There's a reason why I never study at the desk in the common room." Draco placed his bag at a desk and pulled the blackboard to the front. "Watching you is always the best distraction I can find."

"Well, you're going to have to stay _not_ distracted if you want to be tutored by me. I'm a strict teacher." Hermione placed her bag on the front desk closest to the blackboard and started to set up.

"Ooh, naughty teacher. Hermione, you little minx." Draco's sly smile graced his lips. "You can put me in detention _any_ time you want. But only if you're going to be in charge."

"You're feeling better already. I can tell. But it's going to take more than mere distractions for you to overcome this." Hermione didn't want to be a bucket of ice water on his good mood, but she needed to make sure that he wasn't about to brush aside his emotions.

"I know. But for right now… Can we just study?" Draco opened his inkwell and prepped his quill.

"Of course." Hermione lined up her chalk pieces and opened her book. "Let's start on page 351."

Author's Notes: Please bear with me as I work through Draco's situation. It'll be all lovey soon enough. But as with Jane Austen's characters, there is little point to love if they don't have a little hardship first, right?

As always, reviews are appreciated!


	8. Chapter 8

Can I be your Love?

Chapter 8

Draco's eyes were starting to blur as Hermione continued to lecture on the theory for transfiguring the human body into another form.

"It is imperative that you keep your mind _human_. If you don't do this correctly, you'll be stuck in whatever animal you choose. Though it is possible for another witch or wizard to turn you back into yourself, if they do not know you exactly as you are, something can go wrong." Hermione saw Draco's eyes blink slowly as he tried to process the information. At this point, it was really just warnings, no theories of the actual spell, but it was important. Hermione always stressed the importance of safety. Which is why they had spent an hour talking about the actual spell and an additional forty minutes of precaution.

"Hermione." Draco sighed. "I'm having a hard time focusing…"

"I know." She put down her wand that she was waving about like a teacher uses a pointing stick. "We'll take a break. You need your full concentration for this spell."

"Well, it's not just that we've been working on this for a while…"

"Oh?" Hermione sat on the desk and stretched her fingers. They had cramped as she filled the board with diagrams and fine print, detailing the entire process.

"Whenever you say that you need to know everything about your physical body, my mind wanders. You've successfully performed the spell during class. That means you know _everything_ about yourself." Draco looked slyly up at her unsuspecting self. "Makes me wonder, how? Why?"

"What do you mean, Draco?" Hermione had an inkling of understanding. She didn't like where her mind was taking her. Where it was taking _his_ mind. Going down to a dirty, secret, place.

"Oh, I would never sully you by assuming anything. Whatever you do alone or with someone else is none of my business." Draco pulled back his attack. It was one thing to hint at something, another to accuse her. That, and if he didn't stop, his jealousy was sure to surface.

"Damn right, it's none of your business." Hermione scowled, but was silently relieved. She didn't know how to handle people _talking_ about that kind of stuff.

"Hermione Granger swore!" Shock filled Draco's face as he clutched his heart. "I think the world is ending."

"Lay off it. I swear just like anyone else."

"I doubt it." He could not believe that Hermione would swear like the rest of the seventh years.

"Things change. My use of language, as well." Hermione sighed. She wasn't aware on when, exactly, she started swearing. It probably happened while she was at the Weasley's one summer, because when she returned home, she recalled the shock on her parents' faces when she swore in their company.

That, definitely, was not one of her shining moments as a perfect daughter.

Draco was waving his wand, emitting small colorful bubbles. Hermione became suspicious. His behavior was much to different than when he learned of his mother. But she wasn't sure if she should literally and figuratively burst his bubble.

Instead, she picked up her own wand and, with a wave, created small rings to float in the air. Draco switched to puffing air from the tip of his wand and aimed to get the bubbles through the hoops.

"You know you can talk to me about anything you want, right, Draco?" Hermione didn't look at him.

"I could." Draco popped all his bubbles with a wave of his wand. "But, I'm not going to burden you with my problems."

Her brown eyes darkened. He could tell that Hermione was upset by his words.

"You said so yourself. I'm going to be affected by this. I would rather you involve me by _talking to me_ rather than blocking me out and having to just _deal_ with it." Hermione could feel her temper rise and fought to steady herself. Getting angry at him was not going to help anything.

Draco watched as Hermione struggled to get herself under control again. Her chocolate eyes shut and she took a calming breath.

"Draco, I just want to help. Okay?" Hermione looked at him through her eyelashes. "However that might be."

"I know." Draco let out a breath. Hiding it was hard. While his attention was on his studies, it was easier to forget the strain of his family. But once his mind started to wander, it went straight to his mother's condition. Teasing Hermione helped distract him, but only momentarily. He knew that it would be short-lived because he knew she would not allow him to be frivolous with his emotion towards his family.

"We can talk about it whenever you want. I won't force you, I promise." Hermione stood up and walked back to the blackboard, as if studying the white words. "And even if you don't want to talk, please, don't hide it."

Silence stretched out in the room.

Draco stood and walked to her. Without a word, he wrapped and arm around her shoulders and held her to his side.

"I'll try."

It was the best she was going to get out of him. She nodded curtly, swallowing back the tightness in her throat. With a knuckle, she rapped on the board.

"Do you understand all of this?"

"I think so." Before he could do anything, she wiped it clean with a flick of her wrist. He didn't even notice that her wand was still in her hand.

"Good. Write it out." She put a fresh piece of chalk in his hand and stepped away, pulling both her and his notes away from him.

Starting at the top corner, Draco put down the name and the Latin casting of the spell. He carefully recalled the different points that Hermione had described and put them down in even handwriting. Every once in a while, he would hear Hermione flipping a page in one of the books in front of her.

"Done." Draco put the chalk down and brushed off his fingers. Hermione stood and surveyed his replication of her previous notes. The nodding of her head showed her satisfaction with what he had written.

"Alright. I think we can get started." Hermione picked up her wand and gave it a practice swing.

"Um… What if I get stuck?" Draco didn't really want to get stuck in the shape of a cat. "You won't be able to change me back, will you?"

"Ah, no. That's why we aren't going to do the actual transformation. We'll work on wand work and meditation. I'm not sure that you should be doing any transfiguration with your current mind set…" Hermione's brow furrowed as she thought.

"Don't do that." Draco scolded her.

"Do what?" Hermione was confused.

"Frown." Draco poked at her forehead, making her wail as he forced her head back. "It leaves wrinkles."

"You should take your own advice." Hermione swatted at his hand. "We're trying to focus here. Copy me."

Pulling up her sleeve so he could see her wrist, Hermione performed the wand work. It was fairly intricate and required a certain level of fluidity. She showed him at full speed the first time, then explained it as she went through it slowly, then repeated it at full speed.

They practiced for several minutes, Draco started out by warming up his wrist before attempting the wand work. Hermione watched carefully, giving him verbal instructions and demonstrating it again and again for him.

"I'm not getting the last part." Draco grated out, frustrated with himself. He always got spells to work through hard work and practice.

"Let's take a break. You've gotten most of it. If we leave it on a good note, we can pick it up again later." Hermione walked up to Draco and held out her hand. When he didn't move, she reached out and plucked the wand from his fingers, fighting the resistance she met with a firm look and tug. "Maybe you should go outside and fly for a bit. It helps you relax, right?"

Of course flying helped him relax, but it wasn't something he ever told her about. Perhaps it was something she had picked up from her Quiddich loving friends.

"There will be lots of people flying today. The weather is perfect for it." Hermione looked out the window. Even though they had been working for a few hours, most of the school was still asleep.

"Will you go with me?" Draco stood beside her, reaching a hand out of the window to test the air. "You don't have to fly, just watch for a while?"

"Of course." Hermione cleared the board and gathered her books together. They walked through the corridors in silence, making their way back to their rooms to get Draco's broom. When they entered the common room, Hermione set about her desk muttering to herself, "What to bring, what to bring."

"How about something fun?" Draco dropped his bag off at the empty desk before disappearing up the stairs to fetch his broom.

"Something fun?" Hermione pondered a moment. She hadn't had time to have anything fun in the past three years. If there was time for fun, then there was time for worrying. And worrying led to much more dangerous things, like mental breakdowns and hyperventilation. After experiencing each one a few times, and not liking them at all, Hermione threw herself into her work and studies.

"You ready, Hermione? What are you bringing?" Draco came down in flying appropriate clothes, his broom tucked under his arm as he pulled gloves onto his hands.

"I'm not sure." She looked around, lost.

"How about your favorite book from home?" Draco leaned over her and pulled the worn book from where she had wedged it behind her large textbooks.

"How do you even know these things about me?" Hermione turned the book in her hands.

"Like I said. I watch you when I'm bored." Draco pushed her lightly to the door. "I'm bored often."

The air was crisp as Hermione sat in the Quiddich stands. She turned the book in her hands, but watched as Draco flew lazily through the air. Watching people fly was more enjoyable than flying herself. As such, she was skilled in examining the players. Draco, she saw, was flying with none of his usual concentration. His movements were jerky, nearly flying into the goalposts head on before veering away sharply. He would accelerate and decelerate in erratic patterns.

Even when he tried to hide behind happy words and playful banter, Hermione could see it in his flying. His confusion and despair. His future, whatever it might have been with his family, was ripped away from him, throwing him into confusion and chaos. Every time Hermione thought about the war, whenever she looked up and saw that Harry and Ron were not in the castle, she felt the same darkness.

Never before had she thought about how she and Draco were alike. Now she knew just how close they were.

That frightened her.

The world was not a place where she could just sit and read a book and enjoy nature. She should be studying, training, fighting. There was no time for frivolous things like love. But, Ginny was right. Sometimes it is during the hard times when you have to make the effort to do things. Hermione just wasn't sure that dating someone whose family was on the other side of the war was the right thing to do.

A wind blew and ruffled her hair, causing her to shiver slightly. It might not have been just the wind's fault.

Draco's flying smoothed out. He rode with the wind and shifted flawlessly through the turns and twists of a basic maneuver used by all Quiddich players. From the stands, Hermione watched with unfocused eyes.

She was afraid to think about it. Sure, they had talked about her preference in guys. But that did not mean that she had plans on dating or marrying anyone with the war going on. Still, knowing her own emotions, it hurt to know that there was another person with the same feelings.

There just was no answer.

"You haven't even opened your book." Draco had landed so quietly that Hermione hadn't even noticed he was next to her. He sat down heavily beside her and plucked the book from her hands. "You were supposed to have fun."

"Sorry. I guess I just got lost in my thoughts." Hermione brushed her hair over her shoulder. "Did you have a good flight? I thought you would be up there longer."

"I saw you. Not reading." Draco flipped through the soft pages. "I thought I would come down and assess the situation."

She could feel his eyes boring into her as she pointedly looked away. The look on her face, she knew for certain, was not something that would be good for Draco to see.

"Sorry, I'll read. No more thinking."

"That's twice you've apologized." Draco held the book away from her so she had to face him to try and take it. "You have never apologized to me."

"There were plenty of times I should have."

"I don't want you to apologize. You should never have to feel like you have to appease me by doing so."

"Apologies are for the weak?" Hermione looked up at him.

"It's not just that." Draco put the book in her hands. "A person apologizes when they feel like they have done wrong to another. There is nothing you can do that requires you to say 'sorry' to me."

"Fine." Hermione huffed out. She had heard the same conversation. But from her own lips. Hearing those words used back at her indicated that there was no arguing with him. "But you can't apologize to me either."

"I'm glad we reached this agreement. Now, I'm going to fly some more. And you are going to read at least two chapters before we go in for lunch. Understand?"

"Get your butt back in the air." Hermione flipped her book open and started reading.

"You might want to turn it right side up again if you're going to convince me that you're reading." Draco turned it over and placed it back in her hand before taking off again.

Hermione forced herself to read the words on the page. She had read the words so often that she only had to read the beginning of the page to see the entire script in her mind's eye. Still, she forced herself to draw her eyes over each inked letter. The focus was good. She wasn't able to think of anything other than taking in each word.

The clouds that floated in the sky played patterns on the white pages of her book and forced her to remember to blink. She didn't even know what Draco was up to, as concentrated as she was on her own task.

A bell tolling broke Hermione's concentration. Looking around like she was lost, she saw Draco doing the same, hovering a handful of hundred feet in the sky. He aimed down towards her and landed softly.

"Good girl." Draco peeked at the page number and was satisfied. "It's lunch time."

"You should eat with your housemates." Hermione hopped off the last step from the bleachers onto the gravel path. "It's good to stay in contact with the people who are close to you."

"I see that you avoided calling them my friends." Draco hoisted his broom onto his shoulder and stepped beside her.

"Proper terminology must be upheld. Otherwise language loses all purpose." Hermione looked away. She wished that she could say that he had friends. But since he, himself, had denied that the day before, she had no grounds to argue. "Besides, the people who stand beside you might move away if they see you spending so much time with me."

Draco was silent. If he sighed aloud, it would indicate that he took Hermione's words as true. As much as he knew, and she knew, that people would leave him if he was constantly with her, Draco didn't want it to be spoken aloud. This war was nothing but a gigantic obstruction to his feelings. Not just with his parents, his lack of friends, but with the girl he was seriously starting to like.

His feet stopped as his mind latched onto that thought. What had started out as a joke, wanting to win a kiss from the untouchable Head Girl, had turned into a serious consideration of emotions.

"Draco? Something wrong?"

So much. So much was wrong.

He was falling for her.

Author's Notes: AAH! Ok, we're starting towards a wrap up. I never realized that this stupid war would interrupt my Dramione fic SO much. GAH. Anyway, we'll work through this and keep going!

Also! I do realize that the magic is .. not really accurate. But yay for uncomfortable sexually referenced conversations, right? Anyway, don't hate me too much. I just wanted to reference "Kitty Feet" and "Fuzzy" in an overly-obscured way. Draco turning into a cat is just too much fun to ignore…

Reviews are candy. I like candy.


	9. Chapter 9

Can I be your Love?

Chapter 9

Hermione took lunch with her housemates. She spent just as much time telling them to keep on top of their studies as she did eating. The mindless chatter filled her ears and it helped calm her nerves.

When she had parted from Draco at the castle doors, she felt an odd shift in his behavior. He was secretive again, but in a shy, protective fashion. The silence was different from his moping, more pensive than anything else. If he was thinking, then Hermione had no reason to interrupt that. She headed straight to the Great Hall with her novel when Draco went upstairs to drop off his broom first.

Most students were casually dressed and talking in clusters at the tables when she walked in. Greeting those who said hello to her, Hermione found a seat at the Gryffindor table.

Neville joined her and talked about the plants they were going to study in Herbology when they returned from vacation. It was good; stopping her mind from wandering. They spent as pleasant a time as possible together, joining in conversation with other year-mates as they sat down. Most were bleary eyed, causing Hermione to give them hard looks.

"You weren't partying all night, were you? You weren't causing problems for anyone who wanted to sleep, were you?" Her words were met with distracted looks and mild mutterings under their breath. Apparently, Griffindors and Ravenclaws partied alike.

As lunch rolled by, Hermione saw Draco in the corner of her eye at the Slytherin table, surrounded by classmates as they laughed and joked with each other. They might not have noticed, or cared, but Hermione could see the mask that Draco wore. It was a spectacular rendition of his usual arrogant expression, yet it lacked the usual sincerity, the possession of that arrogance.

Crabbe, Goyle, Zambini, even Parkinson didn't seem to comprehend the difference in Draco's behavior. Hermione lowered her gaze, seeing the small shift in Draco's head toward her table. She didn't want him to see her watching him.

"We're training today, do you want to come watch, Hermione?" Ginny asked from down the table.

"Maybe for a little while. There is some studying that I need to do." Hermione didn't want Ginny spouting off in front of others about a certain boy. When the team stood from the table, Hermione was dragged off with them. She felt people's gaze as the group left noisily. But there was one gaze that she felt was different than the others. He knew where to find her if he needed anything. Though he wouldn't unless it was important.

It wasn't until evening after dinner that Draco spoke to Hermione again. They had spent the rest of the day doing their own things. Hermione was at the Quiddich pitch for an hour before holing up in the common room and studying. Draco had gone off and wandered through the castle, sometimes with colleagues, but often times alone. He always managed to find something that caught his interest. That day, he rearranged the displays in the trophy room. Working with his hands distracted him from the newest wonder on his mind.

He thought that, with his mother's condition, he wasn't supposed to have romantic feelings at all. Instead, it seemed that it was more natural for him to fall for her than any other time. Perhaps they were two kindred souls.

A snort of laughter found its way out of him when he thought that. Hermione threw him an odd look from her desk.

"Kindred souls?" Draco thought to himself, keeping his laughter to himself. "As if."

That's not even why he was attracted to her. It wasn't their similarities. It was their differences that caught his attention.

"You should take a break, Hermione. You've been studying for two hours straight now." Draco was reading his Transfiguration book on the couch. Though, honestly, he only read a few pages since he got bored quickly and turned his attention to watching Hermione shift through her mountain of papers at her desk.

"Bored, Draco?" Hermione turned with a sly smile on her face. "You've been watching me for over an hour."

Busted.

"You noticed." Play it cocky. Maybe she would blow him off if he did. And maybe snowmen like to vacation in hell.

"What's gotten into you?" Hermione threw herself onto the couch beside him. "I understand some of your mood swings. But now… you're just plain confusing."

"Would you like to know?" Draco put his book down and leaned over her, boxing her into the corner of her seat. He was surprised to find himself liking her embarrassed expression as she squirmed.

"I… well… if you don't want to say anything, then I'll try to understand." Hermione's mind was trying to work. It really was. But the smell of his soap was hijacking everything and all she could do was try to breathe normally.

"You know what?" His voice dropped to a near whisper. "So would I."

They stayed like that, staring chocolate brown into silver gray. Neither knew what to say. There was no sense to what was happening between them. If there ever was any sense, it fled from the room like it was lit on fire.

"I wasn't really studying." Hermione found herself saying.

"I know." With a smile, Draco pulled back, giving Hermione her space again. "What is wrong with me?"

With a sigh, Draco dragged his hand through his hair, undoing all the gel and making it stick out at odd angles. It felt like he was getting tugged in a million different directions. He was sure that he was holding his head in his hands, but he couldn't be sure. It did not feel as if it was attached to his body. It was not acting as if it was still in his control.

"Who can really say?" Hermione said kindly. Draco turned slowly to look at her, but was surprised when he felt her hand run softly through his hair. She removed his hand from doing more destruction to his hair and cautiously combed his hair with her fingers. "Maybe it's the same as what's wrong with me?"

After several moments of silence, Hermione cleared her throat.

"Can I ask you a question?"

Draco nodded, trying not to lean into her petting fingers too much. Now he knew why that awful Crookshanks beast purred so loudly when Hermione petted it. The feeling was addicting and soothing.

"We talked about my… type. I was wondering, will you tell me yours?" Hermione was cursing her runaway mouth. How could she just ask that? His mother was in a coma for Merlin's sake! And whatever he wasn't telling her about _why_ Narcissa was unconscious was bound to be a hundred times worse than the current situation. And yet, there she was, asking him about what he looks for in a girl. She could just die from embarrassment.

"Well, for starters, she has to be smart. Not just intelligent, but brilliant. Quick wit, strong sense of morals, loyal." Draco concentrated his gaze, looking straight into Hermione's eyes, hypnotizing her. Her fingers stopped moving, her breathing shallowed and she did not dare to blink, afraid to break the spell. "She needs to have her own habits, but support my flying, help me with my studies and put up with me rolling in my sleep."

"And can't scream when she sees your hair first thing in the morning." Her fingers moved again, laying his hair smooth before moving from his head.

"That is a small plus. I'll also accept small laughter at the beginning." Watching her, he saw her bite the inside of her lip, gnawing on it as the gears turned in her head. "Sound like anyone familiar?"

"Huh?" She blinked, surfacing from her thoughts. "Yeah… no… What was the question?"

"I asked if my type sounded like anyone." He shifted closer to her, his knee bumping hers.

"Perhaps. What about the deal breaker? There's always something that is a complete 'no-go' sign. What's yours?" She hadn't moved away from him, that was a good sign.

"I don't know."

Honesty. He was not accustomed to the taste of it in his mouth. But it came naturally when talking with the beautiful girl beside him. She really was a brilliant witch if she could charm him without a spell.

"I'm a romantic." He explained. "I hope to find the perfect girl so I am never forced to find out my deal breaker."

"A romantic, huh?" Hermione leaned into the back of the couch, curling her feet up beneath her. "How do you feel about star-crossed lovers?"

"As long as they never betray each other, or their feelings, then even death will not sully their love." Draco knew the answer to that one. He had spent all afternoon contemplating the intricacies of dating someone from the other side of the line.

"That's… a good answer." Hermione murmured to herself. There was no way she was going to sort out her feelings that night. Anything she did would be rash, illogical, sloppy. She had to be absolutely sure that she could try, to not back out at the first sign of resistance. When she looked up, not having noticed that her gaze had wandered, she saw Draco's soft look on her.

"You look tired. Maybe you should go to bed, Hermione." His long fingers brushed along her cheek and pushed her hair behind her ear. The simple touch made Hermione's heart skip. It was one thing to wake up and find someone using you like a stuffed teddy bear in their sleep. It was a completely different matter to see a fully aware man leaning in to touch her in an oddly affectionate manner. "I'll see you in the morning."

About to complain, Hermione found herself getting shooed of the couch and up the stairs.

"Will you be alright?" Hermione was referencing his sadder emotions. Staring into fire elicits unwanted emotions sometimes.

"I'll be fine. I'm getting sleepy too, so I'm going to bed soon." Draco saw her careful nod and then her back disappearing up the steps.

"Good night, Draco. Try to sleep well." Hermione was on the small balcony ledge at the top of the stairs peering down at him.

"Good night, Hermione."

Hermione couldn't get comfortable.

Her bed was too soft, too hard. Her blankets were too heavy, too light. Her room was too dark, too bright. No matter what she did, she could not settle down. Her mind was whirling so much that she could not fully grasp any one idea before five others crammed into her mind.

She spent hours trying to even out her breathing and focusing on organizing her emotions and thoughts. The fire died down, her room darkened and bit with cold. She pulled up her blankets over her head and closed her eyes.

"One…two…three…four…"

She concentrated, trying to block out enough of her thoughts so she would have a clean area to think.

Then, all she felt was loneliness.

Her best friends were out in the world, fighting for their freedom. She had sent her parents away. Hogwarts was now the only place she could call home.

And now, alone in her room, alone in her bed, she couldn't even think. Her mind, so assaulted by thoughts was suddenly void of everything. Her mind couldn't tell her what she wanted. Or what she needed. But her body knew.

Her body wanted to feel that awkward weight on her waist, the heat from someone else. Her ears wanted to hear two heartbeats, two sets of breathing. Her eyes wanted to see him.

Her body sat up. Hermione moved without knowing. Vaguely, her eyes registered the sun peeking out over the horizon. Somehow she had survived the night.

Knocking on the door seemed to wake up both Hermione and Draco. When had she left her room?

"Come in." Draco's voice was muffled through the door. When she swung the door open, she couldn't see him. The bed was completely flat, clean, untouched. Her eyes shifted to the chair by the fireplace where a mass of blankets was huddled.

"You okay?" Hermione stepped in tentatively. Now that her body had dragged her there, her mind was scrambling for coherent thoughts on what she should do.

"Couldn't sleep in my bed." Draco's head was barely visible in the blanket. His eyes and nose were the only thing Hermione could see clearly. It definitely explained the muffled tones of his voice. "Are _you_ okay, Hermione?"

"Ah…" Hermione fumbled. She wasn't really sure. When was the last time she was 'okay?' "I'm not entirely sure."

"Come here." Draco shifted, giving her room to squeeze into the chair with him. She sat and he wrapped her up in the blanket with him.

Bliss seeped into her skin like she was soaking in summer sun. She snuggled her head into his shoulder, trying to get even more comfortable.

"Better?"

"Much."

As the sun rose slowly into the sky, the two students dozed in each others' arms; finally able to rest peacefully. It might have been odd, finding solace in someone they spent the better part of their school years hating, but it seemed right.

"Hey, Draco?" Hermione murmured after a long while.

"Yes?"

"Can I be your love?"

"Hermione?" Draco opened the door to their common room. "I'm home."

The Head Girl rushed down the stairs.

"Thank Merlin, you're back!" She threw a pile of papers into his hands, not even properly greeting him. "We have a meeting with Professor McGonagall in fifteen minutes."

Rushing around, Hermione shoved her notebook and a pen into her bag before grabbing up a armful of parchment rolls.

"How was your mother?" So, she did remember that he had gotten time to visit his mother at the hospital. She had woken up earlier that week, but the weekend was the first free moment Draco had to see her.

"She's better. The doctors are hopeful that she will regain all of her memories." Narcissa had several blank spots regarding the cause of her coma, but the doctors were helping her sort through the chaos in her mind.

"I'm glad. I was worried about you two." Hermione checked the room one last time before stepping toward the door. The door that Draco was blocking.

"Really? You were worried?" Draco raised an eyebrow, skeptical.

"Yes, I was. Now, we're going to be late." Hermione tried to sidestep him, but he continued to block the door.

"How worried?"

"Oh, come here." Hermione put her things down and grabbed the front of his robes. With a forceful tug, she brought his face to her level and she pressed her lips to his. She felt his smirk on her lips and mentally rolled her eyes.

"Not that worried, I can tell." Draco whispered into her ear as he pulled away from the kiss. The exasperated sigh made him chuckle.

"Well, I'm not about to be passionately worried if your mother is okay." Hermione tried to duck away from him.

"I missed you." Draco successfully intercepted her and swept her away from her papers. His arms trapped her in a warm embrace as he nuzzled his nose in the curve of her neck. "I missed you a lot."

"Really, now?" Pulling her head back, she got Draco to look at her face again. "How much did you miss me?"

"This much." His lips and breath were hot as he took her mouth, soft and passionate he made her breath catch and her knees weak. Fingers wound into the hair at the base of her head and pulled lightly, her head fell back so he could kiss her again.

"Draco?" He pulled back, taking in the calm rapture in Hermione's eyes.

"Yes, Hermione?"

"I'm glad you said 'yes.'"

"Me too."

THE END.

Author's Notes: This is IT. The curtain. The fat lady singing. No more of this. I had no idea where this was going when I started 6 years ago. And well, this is where I'm ending it!

I hope you enjoyed it for what it's worth.

I'm not sure when I went from Draco wanting to say "Can I be your Love?" to Hermione saying it. But it wanted to happen. So here it is. I know it turned out to be much more dark emotional angsty weirdness than fluffy romance… but HEY, romance that isn't confusing doesn't really belong in the romance section of a bookstore.

ANYWAY. That's it. "Can I be your Love?" is now officially over. I've finished crying over writing it.

PLEASE review if you liked it. I like smiley faces. They're like sunshine on a rainy day. Love to all my readers, you keep me writing.


End file.
